


Self Control

by chronokos



Category: Splatoon
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Fluff and Angst, Jealousy, M/M, Pining
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-24
Updated: 2019-06-20
Packaged: 2019-12-06 22:02:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18225989
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chronokos/pseuds/chronokos
Summary: Rider keeps finding love in unexpected places, for better or for worse.





	1. Hook

Sunlight beamed through the blinds of Rider’s apartment. The familiar yet obnoxious cries of the cicadas blared across the city, reminding the teenager curled up on his bed that it was indeed, Summer. It was the first day of July, and recently an unbearable heat had settled down upon the residents of Inkopolis. Inklings had thankfully evolved to be accustomed to the dramatic weather that plagued their Earth, at this point of the year the temperature rarely ever dipped below 100°. But for whatever reason, today felt even more unaccommodating than usual.

“Above 120° again…?” Rider muttered, scrolling through the weather app on his phone. “Almost makes you wish it would rain.”

It was so hot, Rider didn’t even bother sleeping with any sheets last night. It was the kind of summer day that felt humid and dry at the same time. The AC was blasted on high, and all of his blinds were closed in a desperate attempt to stave the heat away.

Rubbing the sleep out of his eyes, Rider managed to pull himself out of bed and drag his feet to the kitchen. He lived in a modest studio apartment, like most inklings around his age did. It wasn’t anything fancy or high class...but it suited his needs. Moderate rent, working utilities and a location that wasn’t too far away from the station. Most of all, Rider was grateful he was able to afford living on his own. He didn’t consider himself someone that got along well with other folks, and couldn’t see that low tolerance going away any time soon.

Mindlessly gnawing on a granola bar he found hiding in his cupboard, Rider peeked out his window through the fire escape. His neighborhood was just as bustling as it always was, the heat clearly not deterring the residents of Inkopolis from going about their business. Jellyfish and other sea life hurried along, leading their lives like they always do. What could possibly require so much urgency on a Saturday? Especially on a day as miserable like this.

“Goddamnit, it really is too fucking hot…”

Muttering to himself he lightly banged his head against the window. He was pleasantly surprised to find the glass was cool, thanks to the air conditioning being set to high, but his brief respite didn’t last long.

The weekend had finally arrived. But as Rider ruminated, he realized he wasn’t too interested in actually doing anything today. Maybe he could relax for once...forget about Turf Wars and constantly training for tournaments...maybe he could get some extra sleep...do some cleaning….

Bzzt. Bzzt. Bzzt.

Forget all that I guess.

Reluctantly, Rider lifts up his phone and squints at an overly cheery text.

>Hey Rider!!! Sure is hot today isn’t it??? Was wondering if you wanted to Turf War today!!!!!!! It’s been awhile!!!!! :DDDDDDD 

Rider briefly entertains the thought of simply not responding, or instead chucking his phone straight out the window. Nothing was stopping him from just blatantly ignoring the message (like he’s done many times before). But the part of him that prioritized maintaining his social life won out in the end.

He had had to admit he hadn’t seen his friends in awhile, since unlike Rider, Goggles still attended public schooling. It was only Rider’s personal assumption that Goggles probably wasn’t the most diligent of students. But either way, classes still consumed most of Goggle’s social hours. That of which he usually devoted to after school practice with Blue Team.

>yeah, i don’t mind. meet up at the plaza around noon? bigger pool of ppl around that time too

>Yay!! See you then!!!!!!!!!

Rider caught himself smiling at his phone.

\---

The trip to Inkopolis square wasn’t too eventful. Other than the absurd heat, of course. 

Rider had a strict principle of not taking off his jacket if he can help it. One could argue it was a pride thing, or maybe the inkling secretly had a self conscious side. But today, he didn’t care what anyone had to say on the matter. This was a little ridiculous.

Rider noted that the train was fairly empty for a Saturday, it seems he managed to just miss the morning rush. He decided on a seat close to the door, across from a group of middle schoolers chatting loudly. They appeared to be in a passionate argument over which Off the Hook member was cooler, utterly unconcerned with disturbing any other passengers onboard.

He leans back into his seat and rests his eyes, tuning in on the conversation as a means to distract himself. Rider however couldn’t help but start thinking about his time back in grade-school...the heat of the summer pulling him back to his first memories of Turf War.

While the Splattershot Jr. treated him well, Rider personally didn’t have very much self confidence in his aim at the time. He took the first opportunity he could to use a more melee-oriented weapon. Though as it turned out, rollers were a line of weapon that required way more precision and skill then a basic splattershot. Rider wasn’t the type to back down from a challenge though, and managed to eventually crawl his way to the top of S+ with his treasured Gold Dynamo Roller. 

Times certainly were simpler back then...he kind of missed it. Not that his life wasn’t laidback right now. But as time passed, a certain uncomfortable reality lurked in the back of his mind. Turf Wars and tournaments...messing around with Yellow-Green team and Blue Team...this was all going to have to end at some point. 

Sure, Professional Turf War was an option, but did Rider really have the talent for that kind of lifestyle? As much as he’d love to play silly games for high schoolers for the rest of his life, it just didn’t seem realistic in his mind. He already felt himself getting worn out by his unfulfilling part-time job. Soon he would no longer be the feared and tyrannical Black Inky Rider, he’s just gonna be...another high school dropout.

“C’mon…” Rider pinched the bridge of his nose. “Snap out of it.”

He was going to be seeing one of his good friends soon after all, and here he was making himself all depressed for no reason. Rider turns his attention back to the window in an attempt to reorient himself, focusing on each individual telephone pole flying by. He couldn’t help but realize that’s how life has felt for him these days. 

Taking a meditative breath, he closes his eyes again, letting the rhythmic clack, clack, clack of the train cradle him to sleep. 

Ugh...it really was too hot today.

\---

“Rider!”

Rider glanced up and was greeted with Goggles waving excitedly at him. Smiling like an idiot, the inkling rushed over, paying no mind at all to the people he consistently bumped into.

“Haha, I beat you here!” Goggles gloated.

“It’s not like we were racing in the first place…” Rider quickly excused, trying not to let his childish competitive side get to him.

“You’re not wearing your jacket either!! Limited edition Rider!”

“Wh-what are you even saying?” Rider was already getting flustered. “And forget that, why the hell are you still wearing that thing? It’s like a million degrees outside.” 

Goggles looked down at his ski jacket, and rolled the sleeves up in an attempt to transform it into summer gear. “But I like it.” he simply stated, holding his arms out.

 _Seriously, what planet is this kid living on,_ Rider quietly thought to himself, before he felt Goggles suddenly grab his hand.

“C’mon, c’mon, let’s go! You know Saturday’s are always busy!!”

“G-Goggles! You need to seriously calm down…”

“But, it’s been so long since I’ve seen you!” Goggles beamed, giving Rider one of his typical smiles. “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you all week!”

Rider couldn’t help but get a little embarrassed at that one. I mean, to be fair, he always felt embarrassed around Goggles...but he especially isn’t used to having people admit they enjoy his company.

Giving in to Goggles’ enthusiasm, Rider let himself be dragged into the Deca Tower, his cumbersome weapon case trailing along with him. 

They both step inside the elevator, and Rider immediately breathes a sigh of relief. Thankfully the inside of the building appeared to have proper ventilation. He really wasn’t sure how much more he could stand of that ridiculous heat.

The elevator swiftly rose to the main floor, and both squids were greeted by the hustle and bustle one should expect from the main entrance hall. 

Saturday primetime always boasted an extremely large gathering of cephalopods, Squid and Octopi alike. Many pairs and groups of friends were idly chattering in various corners of the facility, assumedly to take a break from the scorching heat outside. Jellyfish were stationed at desks lining around the edge of the hall, waiting to help players get registered for set battles.

The deadly combination of the constant conversation and announcements echoing from the PA system managed to fill the entire hall, making it hard for Rider to even think. The mood seemed to have the opposite effect on Goggles however, as he doubled his efforts to single-handedly drag Rider to the Turf War gate.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon! You walk soooo slow Rider!”

“You know you’re not supposed to run in here right…” Rider scolds, shifting his weight backwards in an attempt to slow down the blue inkling.

As the two of them bumbled their way over to the glowing green gate, they didn’t notice a lone inkling’s head snap up from his phone as they passed by.

“Huh, wasn’t expecting to see those two here today.” 

\---

“It’s like, waaaaay too hot today.”

“Weren’t you arguing with me about this earlier…?”

“But don’t you agree?”

He did. Rider really did. It didn’t need to be this ridiculously fucking hot. But constantly complaining about it wasn’t going to help anything.

The stage rotation at the moment happened to be The Reef and New Albacore Hotel, the half hour time slot set on the latter. Rider silently wished to himself that they were playing in an air-conditioned Mako Mart instead, but thankfully the high up rise and large quantity of water managed to somewhat bring the temperature down.

Rider was also grateful the ticket decided to pair him and Goggles up together for this round. While he didn’t mind occasionally being on the opposite team of his friends, he didn’t savor the thought of having to splat someone as nice as Goggles over and over.....he wouldn’t want to let his team down over something as trivial as that. Or as embarrassing either.

The assigned colors were Pink vs. Light Blue, a Dualie Squelcher and Kensa Splattershot had joined them together on the spawn point.

Goggles meanwhile couldn’t resist the urge to tease Rider about his new hair color. “Haha Rider! You almost have the same hair color as I usually do! But I think you’ll always look best with lime!” 

Clearly taken off guard by the sudden compliment, Rider turns his head attempting to hide his blush. “Light blue looks a little flashy on you, though...” he mumbles.

“What’s wrong with that? Like bright lime-green isn’t flashy!”

Rider smirked at that. “Then keep it, maybe girls will pay more attention to you.”

“Heheh, maybe then, if you like it that much.”

While their teammates rolled their eyes at their obnoxious flirting, the intercom suddenly crackled on, and everyone hurried into their proper positions.

“3, 2, 1,” 

“GO!”

“Good luck Rider! Booyah! Booyah!” Goggles yelled before immediately rushing ahead, carving a path along the right route. 

The other two members rushed out as well, both heading through the middle enclave. It appeared they were making a beeline for the middle platform, in an attempt to get an upper hand on the opposing team. 

Rider decided then he would take care of the left route, his Dynamo suited for covering the narrow walkways with ease. With a couple of well aimed flicks, he managed to get the rest of the base covered in no time at all.

Naturally, conflict was already occurring on the main platform. From what he could tell, the other team had two close-range users along with a charger. Rider spied an enemy Octobrush furiously painting towards the bridge located on Blue Team’s side. Rider quickly hid in the ink, and managed to successfully take the Brush by surprise, dispatching them swiftly. He continued his trek to the middle, using the range of his weapon to his advantage and kept the left side of the platform covered.

Rider quickly swiveled his head to try and catch a peek at Goggles, but couldn’t spot him anywhere on the middle portion. He swam over to the right side of the map, and decided to buy some time by inking what he could of the enemy’s base. Tossing a splat bomb across the railing to make sure no one was waiting for him, he makes his dash across the bridge. Unfortunately, he soon found himself immediately regretting that decision.

“Found you Rider~” 

Before Rider could even turn around to see who was taunting him, he found himself splatted from behind in an instant. That voice...that...obnoxious, sing-songy voice, that could only mean…

“Alohaaaaaa!”

Appearing out of thin air, Goggles waved his splattershot like a mad man, excitedly calling out to the S4 member. Subsequently remembering where he was, he instantly dived back into his ink as the enemy charger took a potshot at him. Getting cooked didn’t seem to be of any concern for Goggles however, as he quickly swam over to the edge of the bridge to say hello.

Aloha playfully blew on the barrel of his .52 Gal before lifting it back to battle stance. He was donning a camo baseball cap and a Black Polo shirt as means for a disguise, explaining why neither Goggles or Rider recognized him in the match briefing.

“Hey now, hey now, we’re enemies right now, remember?” Aloha playfully jested before aiming his .52 at the splashes moving towards him. Goggles had no interest in fighting, and simply splashed around in the ink, effortlessly avoiding his shots. 

“I can’t believe we got paired up together! What are the chances!!” 

At this point Rider had respawned, and was now gawking at the strange display of Goggles playing footsies with a highly skilled opponent, while trying to hold a conversation at the same time. Why couldn’t he apply that freakish ability of his to ranked matches...

“Tch, can’t believe he got me like that…” Rider angrily grumbled, before pushing his way back to the center.

While this wasn’t news to anyone, Rider wasn’t particularly fond of the the oh-so-popular Aloha. Well...he didn’t hate him. But he certainly talked too much, showed off too much, and had a non-existent concept of what personal space was supposed to be.

Don’t get him wrong though, he was just as surprised to see Aloha here as Goggles was. He assumed the S4 players wouldn’t want to waste their time on something as casual as Turf War. Everyone had their own way of letting off steam he supposed.  
“Goggles! Stop messing around and focus on taking the middle!” Rider yelled from the top of the ramp, visibly annoyed.

“Soooorrrryyyy!!” Goggles chimed and tossed a couple burst bombs at Aloha before running off.

Knowing he was out-matched by Aloha’s .52 gal in terms of speed, Rider decided to play defensively for now. Both teams were still having a fairly even fight, so he decided to join Goggles again on the middle platform. 

Keeping tabs on his other teammates, he noted the Dualies attempting to cut a path through the enemy base, while the Kensa splattershot played gatekeeper on the far right ramp.

“We’ve got a little less than a minute left, keep your cool Goggles.” 

“Haha! I should be saying that to you Rid--AUGH!” Before he could finish his sentence, Goggles was immediately was silenced by the enemy team’s charger.

Rider shut his eyes in frustration, his thoughts immediately rushing back to the goofy dance he saw Goggles doing 10-seconds ago. Nonetheless he readied his roller, knowing he was gonna have to start playing for keeps now.

Tossing a splat bomb up to the platform to scare the charger away, Rider quickly did a 180 and inked his way back over the middle section. The Dualies had appeared to have made it across the bridge safely, but was shortly thereafter dispatched by Aloha, who also decided to make his advance to the middle at the last minute.

Still ticked off by their earlier encounter, Rider had to hold himself back from doing anything reckless. Burning through his Ink Armor and crushing Aloha with his Dynamo sounded like a great idea at the time, but he knew a rash tactic like that would only end up backfiring on him. Banking on Goggles respawning soon and hopefully flanking him from the back, he bought time by zoning Aloha with splat bombs.

“Ooh, nice try!” Aloha shouted before throwing a Splash Wall out, giving him the chance he needed to quickly shoot a path by Rider and swim to the middle.

Shit. Rider was even more agitated now, chastising himself for forgetting his earlier note about weapon speed. While the tide of the battle was still unclear, Aloha planting himself in the center stage gave Pink Team the advantage. He knew one mistake could cost him the whole match.

Acting on instinct, he spun around slamming his Dynamo down with all the strength he could muster, in a desperate attempt to tail end Aloha. Rider’s plan was for naught however, as he watched his ink fling uselessly off his target.

Aloha always seemed to have a trick up his sleeve.

“You’re gonna have to do better than that Rider!” Aloha shouted, before raising his arm up and shouting out a hearty ‘Booyah!’ The cheers from his teammates began to gradually swirl around him.

Booyah Bomb? When did Aloha start use Booyah Bomb? Rider’s mind suddenly flashes to the splash wall he threw out during their earlier encounter, and curses himself for not being as familiar with shooters as he should.

Rider felt himself starting to panic. With only 30 seconds left on the clock, he knew this would tip the scales in Pink Team’s favor. As a last resort, he began flicking his roller as a means to burn through his ink armor, but he knew it wouldn’t accomplish much. 

Feeling at a loss to do, he then notices out of the corner of his eye that Goggles happened to be super jumping over to him.

“Took him long enough…” he muttered, not sure what backup could accomplish in such a short amount of time. But Rider really should have learned a long time ago not to misunderestimate his idiot teammate.

Aloha wasn’t even allowed the privilege to shout his last Booyah, before suddenly being crushed by a Splashdown from 20 feet above.

Rider could barely even hear the announcer shout “Game!” as his vision was obscured by a whirlpool of blue ink. Being so close the sight of impact was enough to knock him flat on his ass, Aloha being similarly flung a couple feet away.

“Did we do it!?” Goggles’ head snapped up at the leaderboard, completely oblivious of his two companions sprawled out on the ground next to him.

Groaning, Rider mustered the strength to sit up. He looked on up over at the screen as well, trying to hide his nervousness about the results.

“Aaaaand…...Light Blue Team wins!” the announcer shouts, Judd victoriously holding his flag up high. They had somehow managed to take the match by 5%.

“Yaaay! We did it Rider!” Goggles exclaims, quickly springing to his feet.

“Maybe if you didn’t let your guard down, that match wouldn’t have been so stressful…” Rider couldn’t help but grumble out. He slowly managed to pick himself up off the ground, using his Dynamo as leverage.

He then wastes no time in lecturing Goggles. “What took you so long to respawn anyway?” he sharply accused, jabbing a finger at Goggles’ chest.

“I-I was inking our base, heheh…” Goggles sheepishly admitted, yelping as Rider pinched one his cheeks and began to tug out of pure frustration. 

“I was waiting for you to back me up…” he growled.

“B-But I needed to fill my super meteeeerrrrr!”

“Go easy on him Rider!” They both stopped their play fighting and turned to see Aloha walking towards them, fanning himself with his cap. “Isn’t it more interesting this way? You won because of him after all.” 

Rider huffs at the comment, but let’s go of Goggles anyways. “Yeah...I guess….”

“I have to say Goggles, you really did me in with that last one~”

“Thanks! But you were great too Aloha!! That one-on-one you had with Rider was sooooo cool!”

“Ha! so you say. Even though Rider didn’t manage to even splat me once~” Aloha said smirking, peeking over at Rider to gauge his reaction.

Aloha wasn’t ignorant of the S+ Tyrant’s opinion of him, he was in fact extremely aware that Rider found him painfully annoying. He even made an attempt to tone back the more obnoxious qualities of his personality, the first time they met. He was quick on the come up however that Rider seemed to have a distaste for people in general.

So naturally, he went ahead and made it his personal goal to get under Rider’s skin as much as possible.

“Shut up...this isn’t a good stage for rollers, that’s all.” Rider retorted, not even bothering to look at him.

“Hmmm?” Aloha spun his cap on his finger a few times before flipping it back on his head. “We should pair up some time then, we’d make a good team don’t ya think?”

“Like I’d ever pair up with a weirdo like you.” Rider stated, still with his back turned. He slung his Dynamo over his shoulder, and began walking back towards the storage room to retrieve his case.

Aloha laughed, a little disappointed Rider wouldn’t play along with his game. “That’s implying Goggles is any less of a weirdo than I am!” he shouted back.

“Then that makes you a weirdo too Rider!” Goggles chimed in.

“Can it, idiot.”

\---

“It’s so hot today, so hot!”

“Then take your coat off already…”

It was nearing 6PM and the blazing heat hadn’t seemed to settle down one degree. Goggles and Riders got a couple more Turf War matches in, but Aloha instead decided to play Ranked for the rest of the day.

They stepped out together back into the city square, worn out by their long day of battling.

“Well...I guess it’s time I start heading home. I had a good time. Cya.” 

Rider re-adjusted the strap on his weapons case before starting his trek back to the station. He didn’t make it too far though, as he felt Goggles grab his arm. 

“You’re going home already?”, disappointment obvious in his voice.

Rider tried to mask his frustration and turns to face him. “I mean...yeah? I’m tired. This heat is seriously draining the life out of me.”

“But don’t you wanna hang out more? Let’s get a meal somewhere together!” Goggles begs, hope twinkling in his eyes.

A feeling of conflict arose in Rider again. He genuinely felt exhausted, by the heat, by the trip to the square and from having to keep up with Goggles’ antics all day. Not to mention his encounter with Aloha managed to successfully put a damper on his mood. 

But on the other hand...he also liked Goggles. A lot. You know, as a friend. And he also knew this was a chance to have some genuine one-on-one time with him...So he supposes he could...It’s just a meal right…? There wasn’t any food at home either...Nothing good anyways...

“Going out to eat huh~?”

Rider instinctively flinched as he felt a hand clutch his shoulder. He turned to find Aloha, still in his goofy disguise, beaming at the two of them.

“Sounds like a good time, I can pay!” Aloha offered.

“Really!?” Goggles openly gasped.

“I’ll pass.”

Rider lugged the strap of his weapon’s case up on his shoulder again, and executed his escape. So much for that plan...maybe he could text Goggles about it next weekend.

But Aloha didn’t want to take no for an answer, and managed to get in front of Rider before he could disappear into the crowd. Rider was having a difficult time telling if the dramatic expression on Aloha’s face was genuine, or another one of his famous routines to guilt trip Rider into doing something stupid for him. 

“For such a hot day, you sure are acting cold towards me, Rider.”

“Get out of my way.” Rider attempts to shove past him again but is unsuccessful. “Do you think I have time for this? I said move it.”

“I’m serious too.” Aloha’s gaze unwavering. “What in the world did I do to make you hate me this much?”

Goggles, overhearing the conversation started getting nervous. Rider and Aloha fight a lot, sure, you couldn’t leave them in the same room together for 10 minutes before someone lost an arm. But he’s never seen Aloha use this tone of voice before.

Rider glares back, feeling himself get pissed off. “I don’t know, Aloha. Maybe cause it’s 5,000 fucking degrees outside and you insist on dancing in front of me like a squidling goalie at his first soccer game.”

“Oooh, I get it now!” Aloha lifts the brim of his cap up, bearing a nasty grin.  
“Mad I knocked you down a few pegs in front of your boyfriend, huh?”

Okay, that did it. Rider quickly slid his bag off his shoulder, fully prepared to smash this asshole’s face in, but was stopped in his tracks by Aloha bursting out in sudden laughter. All Rider could do was stare blankly at him like an idiot. 

“Hoo boy, sorry. It’s just way too much fun to mess with you.” Aloha giggled, pulling his hat back down. Rider was still debating in his head whether it was worth it or not to break this guy’s nose.

Aloha suddenly thrust his hand out. “What do you say Rider, truce?”

Why did this guy have to be such a such a fucking nutcase.

“No way.”

“C’mon, don't be like that! I said I was sorry! I know I’ve teased you a lot in the past but I can’t help it!” Aloha begged, still grinning.

Then suddenly he made his voice real quiet, and moved in a bit closer, just loud enough for Rider to hear.

“You’re just so cute when you get all worked up, you know that right?”

Rider felt his entire face change 8 different shades of red, unsure whether it was out of embarrassment or anger. Maybe both. After about 30 seconds of stunned silence, he finally got a hold of his senses and roughly shoved himself past Aloha.

“O-Oh! Bye Rider! Thanks for playing with me today!” Goggles quickly called out, slightly confused by why Rider suddenly stormed off like that. 

Rider, not forgetting his manners, managed a quick wave to Goggles before continuing to book it to the fence entrance. He could still feel Aloha staring a hole through his back as he ran away.

God, he couldn't stand that guy.


	2. Line

109°. Clear skies. Okay. We’re making some progress.

It was the usual lazy Sunday morning for Rider. No appointments, no plans. Just the summer heat and the ambience of his neighborhood keeping him company. He studied himself intensely in the mirror while brushing his teeth. He felt agitated, more than he usually was.

Rider’s thoughts were currently tormented by yesterday’s battle, and the weird encounter he had with Aloha. He had already spent most of his night desperately trying to shove his parting words into the recesses of his mind. 

Rider spit out his toothpaste. He was less agitated by the comment itself, and more by how much it was apparently getting to him. Aloha was obviously just trying to mess with him. And boy, was it working.

He pulled his tentacles up into his standard ponytail, and stopped to stare intently at his reflection again.

“Cute…” he mumbled to himself, knitting his eyebrows. He really needed to stop psyching himself out like this.

Shaking his head, he made his way back to his living room and threw himself onto the couch. While it wasn’t nearly as warm as yesterday, the temperature was still less than ideal. Maybe he could actually have his day off this time. 

Rider closes his eyes, cycling through his head all the menial tasks he had lined up for this evening. Feeling emotionally worn out by yesterday, he succumbed to lying on his couch for a bit longer. He rests his eyes, tempting himself to fall into a quick nap...

A sudden uncontrollable buzzing jolts him awake from his thoughts.

Rider’s phone. He decides to ignore it, opting instead to roll over onto his side. It couldn’t be anything important. Yellow-Green team trained during Monday-Wednesday-Friday, and Goggles knew better than to try and contact him two days in a row.   
Despite these truths, his phone buzzed once again.

“Who in the world…” Rider groans, as he awkwardly reached down to the floor to pick up his phone. 

He felt his blood run cold when he saw who was texting him.

**> Riiiiiiderrrr~  
>Is today another one of your days off? ^.^  
>Oh yeah this is aloha btw lol ♪**

God. Why. 

>how the hell did you get my number

**> Goggles gave it to me yesterday!!!**

Of course. Great.

>ok cool well just letting you know im gonna block you

**> Waiiiit! Hear me out!!! >.<  
>Four eyes and whats her name couldn’t make it to blue team practice today   
>But Goggles really wants to practice ranked you know?? So i offered to help out  
>And obviously he wanted his no. 2 to join ♪**

>uh. ok. so why didnt he just text me.

**> He knows you don’t respond if he heckles you too much!!   
>You really gotta break that habit of urs if u want to win him over u know :p**

He felt like he was going to lose his goddamn mind if he had to talk to this con artist for 10 more seconds.

>ok.

**> So??**

>so what

**> What do you say?? Wanna play with us today??**

>you seriously can’t be implying we’re gonna be playing on the same team

**> Of course!!! C’mon, we’ll be unstoppable. With your strength and my dexterity, we’ll take down anyone in our way~   
>It’s rainmaker today toooooooo~♪**

>no

**> ):  
>Well, it’s too late either way. I already told goggles you were okay w/ it  
>Us S+’s gotta look out for each other u knowwww ;o**

His phone buzzed again as he immediately received another text.

>Rider!!!!!! Guess where I am!!!!!!!!

Rider then buried his face into his couch, resisting the urge to scream at the top of his lungs.

Before texting a quick “fuck you” to Aloha, he took a deep breath before responding back to Goggles.

>please don’t say my apartment

**> Bingo!!!!!!**

Rider grumbled in defeat, and reluctantly dragged himself off the sofa. If he was going to yell at Goggles, he might as well have the courtesy to do it in person. After making himself somewhat presentable, he quickly slipped on some shoes and headed down to the lobby of his apartment complex.

It wasn’t hard to spot Goggles, standing outside the glass window. He was looking very distractedly at his phone. Rider wondered if Goggles was patiently waiting for him to text him back. He cracked the door open to a sliver.

“How do you know where I live.”

Goggles’ head immediately shoots up, and broke out into a huge smile upon seeing the other inkling. Rider noticed Goggles was still wearing that ridiculous ski coat, and it wasn’t even unzipped like it was yesterday. 

“Rider!!” 

“Seriously, how do you know where I live?” Rider questioned again, peeking his head out.

“I went to your house with Stealth that one time, remember?”

“That was like. 2 years ago. Also I’ve moved since then.”

“Are you really going to train today in flip-flops?”

“Don’t try and change the subject.”

Rider had initially planned to come down here to scare Goggles off, but he was quickly beginning to regret his plan of action. Goggles just...seemed so genuinely happy to see him. He found he couldn’t find the strength to fling insults at him like he usually does.

Suddenly gripped by a feeling of nervousness, Rider stepped out from the safety of the glass panelling. He felt uncharacteristically vulnerable, speaking to Goggles like this.

“...I don’t want to train today.” he quietly admitted, failing to make eye contact.

As expected, Goggles immediately looked crestfallen. 

“W-What? But Aloha told me you would!!”

“I’m tired.”

“Yeah, right! Training’s like, all you think about Rider! I thought you’d be excited about finally getting to play Ranked with me too…” Goggles pouted.

Rider had to keep his gaze focused on the ground, wishing he just stayed in bed. Goggles was using his hidden talent of being able to talk literally anyone into doing anything. He didn’t think Goggles did it on purpose, he just happened to be a painfully honest kid. More honest than Rider could ever be anyways.

“Is this about Aloha?” Goggles suddenly asked.

Rider quickly looked up in response, failing to hide his reaction. He already felt a blush start to form on his cheeks. Rider had been so focused on not hurting Goggles’ feelings, it completely slipped his mind that Aloha masterminded this whole mess in the first place. He was then hti with a second wave of anxiety, wondering if Goggles had somehow heard their embarrassing exchange from yesterday.

“You had a pretty nasty argument yesterday...Oh!” Goggles suddenly clapped his hands together. “That’s it!”

“Playing ranked together would be the perfect way to make you guys get along, don’t you think?” Goggles proposed, clearly convinced this is the best idea he’s ever had.

“No.” 

“Yes!! It’s Rainmaker today too! You’ll be forced to watch each others backs...save each other from perilous situations... It’s the perfect scenario for the beginning of a beautiful, long lasting friendship!” 

“Sh-shut up about training! You know I can’t stand that guy, so drop it already!” Rider said a little too forcefully, cutting Goggles off from his spheal.

He saw him shrink back, not expecting to suddenly get snapped at. The look on his face immediately made Rider feel like garbage. So much for controlling his temper.

“Sorry…” Rider quickly mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.   
Goggles was now sullenly staring at his hands, probably blaming himself for making Rider mad.   
Ugh...he made it awkward. Rider awkwardly turned away to try and wrack his brain for something he could say, but Goggles ended up piping up first.

“Can you at least...do it for Blue team? If not for me…?”

Rider looked back, accidentally locking eyes with Goggles. The two of them now caught in an impromptu staring contest. He observed an emotion he couldn’t quite decipher, glinting in Goggles’ eyes. This inkling was nothing if persistent, he almost found it admirable. 

Realizing that Goggles was staring at him for a response, he quickly broke eye contact.   
He felt himself blush again.

“...Okay. But only till 4 okay? I have stuff I need to get done today.”

Goggles immediately reverted back to his old self, like nothing happened.   
“Yaaaaay!!! I’m so happy! C’mon let’s go then!” he shouted, before grabbing Rider’s hand, attempting to pull him down the block.

“H-Hey, stop! I still need to change my clothes!”

\---

Aloha and Headphones were already waiting for them by the time they arrived in the square. 

Headphones appeared to be trapped in the middle of a conversation, but the moment she spotted her friends, she hastily raised from her chair, waving at them to catch their attention. 

She appeared a little flustered, her face clearly conveying and emotion that said ‘thank goodness you’re here, I’m not sure how much longer I could have stood Aloha flirting with me.’

“Geez, what took you guys so long...” Headphones chided, placing her hands on her hips. 

“Heheh, sorry! Had to do some old fashioned bear wrangling!” Goggles joked, then proceeding giving his best attempt at placing Rider in a headlock. He only made it about halfway before promptly being shoved off by the other inkling.

Aloha walked up to greet them with his usual happy demeanor. He also appeared to be wearing his standard outfit this time around. 

“I’m so happy you could join us~” he said cheerfully, before sliding his hand up onto Rider’s shoulder. “Especially you Rider.”

Rider, had been mentally preparing himself all morning for this exact moment, and successfully managed to maintain his poker face. He gave a simple silent nod to the both of them, which only served to fuel Aloha’s teasing.

“C’mon, c’mon, you can do better than that! Goooood, mooooorning, Rider!” Aloha called out, pushing and pulling with each enunciation.

“I thought I told you not to touch me.” Rider reactively growled back.

“You guys are already fighting?” Headphones interjected, turning around to shoot them both a nasty look. They quickly pulled away from each other, both of them internally coming to a mutual agreement they would rather not incite Headphone’s wrath.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Headphones whispered to Goggles, making sure Rider could see the unimpressed look on her face.

“I-It’s fine. Let’s just go already.” Rider retorted. He felt embarrassed that he was already losing his cool, the whole situation was really putting him on edge.

“I’m doing this for you, okay?” he quietly said to Headphones, giving her a light pat on the shoulder as he made his way to the Deca Tower.

Headphones shot him a strange look, not entirely sure how she was supposed to interpret that. She followed him anyways, Goggles and Aloha trailing behind.

The group went up to the 5th floor this time around, where League Battles were handled.   
It was a slightly smaller lobby compared to the one used for Turf Wars, but it held an entirely different atmosphere. The hallway completely lacked the hustle and bustle of the Turf and Ranked lobbies. Teams didn’t come here to relax. They came here to win.

The group found themselves gathering some unwanted attention as they made their way down the hall, the various teams littered about couldn’t help notice the strange combination of inklings.   
“Is that Aloha from the S4?”   
“With...the idiot Blue Team?”   
“No, no. The dude with the glasses isn’t there...Rider!?”

Aloha chuckled. “Maybe I should have worn my disguise today too.” he said pulling his visor down a bit lower.

“Yeah right, you live for this kind of attention.” Rider muttered under his breath, immediately receiving a sharp elbow jab from Headphones.

Since Aloha and Rider were more accustomed to Ranked battles, they did most of the talking with the receptionist. They helped Goggles and Headphones get properly registered for their first battle.

Once their membership cards were properly updated, the jellyfish proceeded to prattle on about how League Power and prize money worked. Having heard this speech a million times, Rider lazily wandered over to the electronic information board to check what stages were currently on rotation. Blackbelly Skatepark and Camp Triggerfish. Not too bad for beginners.

“Which one do you prefer?” Aloha’s voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

He glanced over to find Aloha observing the board with him. He couldn’t stop memories of yesterday rush back to him, so he focused his eyes back on the screen, doing his best to act normal.

“Oh...uh...I guess Blackbelly. Triggerfish is a little hard for newcomers since the goal is protected by all that railing.”

“But that’s what makes it so exciting! It makes you have to rely on your teammates even more than usual!” 

“Yeah...I just don’t want either of them to be discouraged, that’s all.” He flinched when Aloha placed a hand on his shoulder again.

“It’s fine! You’ll protect them if anything goes wrong, right? That’s personally where I think you shine the most, Rider.” 

Rider glanced at him from the side, waiting for him to follow up with one of his usual snide comments, but Aloha just kept grinning at him. Before he could choke out any words of gratitude, the two of them were interrupted by Headphones and Goggles. They had finally finished getting all set up, and had made their way over.

“Yeah! Ranked battles! Let’s crush it team!” Goggles yelled a little too loudly, turning a few heads in the lobby.

“We won’t let you guys down!” Aloha laughed, giving Goggles a big thumbs up, then turned back to Rider. “Right~?”

Rider only nodded.

\----

Goggles and Headphones felt incredibly nervous. Well, maybe not Goggles. No one could ever be too certain what was going on in that dome of his. 

Headphones on the other hand, kept walking herself through breathing exercises just to stop herself from trembling. She was currently imagining all the terrible and fantastic ways she was somehow going to let her teammates down.

She had even gone as far to ask Aloha if it was proper to bring her usual weapon into a mode like Rainmaker, but he assured her everything would be fine. The Squiffer was a charger that lended the user lots of mobility, not to mention she was amazingly skilled with it.   
He could have just been flirting with that last comment though.

For now their team would be playing on Camp Triggerfish, a little to Rider’s disappointment. He ran through his mind the possible advantages of practicing on this stage. While the railed pathways didn’t offer much in terms of hiding or running away, it would at least give Headphones a leg up on sniping.

He thought for a bit, before pulling his teammates in for a quick strategy meeting.   
“Goggles...do you want to be in charge of the Rainmaker?” Rider suggested.

“Huh!? Me?” Goggles pointed to himself. “Wh-why? You know I’m a total newbie right…?”

“Well...I only suggest this cause your agility has always been one of your strong suits..you don’t have to worry about aiming the Rainmaker as long as you can avoid getting splatted.”

“I agree!” Aloha raised his hand. “I think it’s best if the three of us focused on guarding you!”

Goggles looked a little nervous for a moment, but nodded determinedly.   
“Okay. I won’t let you guys down!” 

Both of the teams met up at the launch pad, Rider using the match briefing as an opportunity to size up the opposing team. Unlike his current posse, they all looked extremely coordinated, down to the clothes they wore. They were clearly a group that dedicated most of their time to League Battling.

Deco Glooga Dualies, Sloshing Machine, Forge Splattershot Pro and a E-Liter. Admittedly well balanced. Their weapon synergy made Rider slightly nervous. They came off as a team that preferred to overwhelm their enemies, rather than commit to one-on-one battles. He’d really have to pull double time to make sure the members from Blue Team didn’t get pounced on immediately. 

“Babysitting the idiot team huh?” Rider was pulled out of his thoughts by the Slosher suddenly deciding to pick a fight. “We’ll crush you before you chumps can even fill your super meters!” he taunted, followed up with an obnoxious laugh.

“Try it.” Rider growled back, glaring daggers at him. That effectively shut him up, his grin quickly shrinking into a nervous smile. 

“You better listen to my friend here~” Aloha tagged on, grabbing onto Rider’s arm like a clingy girlfriend. “He’s really scary when he gets mad you know.”

Rider immediately shoved Aloha off, but their intimidation tactic was apparently worked.   
The opposing team shifted around awkwardly, having no idea what they were supposed to expect from this bizarre matchup.

After the referee finished explaining the ground rules, the players super jumped to their respective spawn points, and prepared for the match.

“Still feeling nervous Headphones?” Goggles asked.

“A little...but...knowing Rider and Aloha are here makes me feel a little better.”, she chuckled.  
The timer went off, and they all rushed out towards the Rainmaker.

All of them successfully managed to reach the middle platform before the other team could. The usual repertoire of tossing bombs over the shield began to play out, but Blue Team had the upper hand. All of their weapons dealt fairly high damage, and they ended up popping the bubble in no time at all. 

“Goggles! Go!” Headphones called out, seeing that a window to grab the Rainmaker opened up, as the other team quickly retreated to avoid the blast of the shield.

“Yeah!” he quickly responds, already diving headfirst forward towards the Rainmaker. 

He lifts it up, before comically being pulled back down by the weight and size of it.   
“Wooaaah, this thing is heavy!” he laughs, before managing to prop it up on his shoulder.

“Are you sure this won’t give me back damage…?” 

“Just shut up and go!” Rider yelled, not in the mood to cycle through Goggles’ comedy routine. The enemy team was already focusing all of their attention on Goggles. Rider reactively jump in front of him, managing to at least crush the Dualies with his roller.

“Cool as always, Rider!” Goggles laughed, before heading on his merry way. The remaining 3 members of the opposing team were aggressively guarding the middle pathway, so he figured his best bet would be through the side routes. He heard Aloha following alongside him.

While Aloha was very attached to his .52 Gal, but he decided to break out the .96 Gal for today’s matches. He knew Rider would lug his trusty Gold Dynamo along with him, so he doubled down on the Ink Armor. Hopefully it would give Blue Team the extra push they needed.

The enemy team quickly changed course, preparing to circumvent Goggles. The Slosher and Splattershot Pro hurried their way up the ink railing, waiting so they could ambush Goggles as he ran by. Unfortunately for them, Headphones had already snuck her way onto their side of the base, and she took out the Slosher who was idling in the ink path. 

Cursing to himself, the Splattershot made his move early, deciding that gunning for the Rainmaker was his best option.

“Goggles! Watch out!” Aloha tried to warn him, but it was too late. Goggles felt himself immediately freeze up in surprise, and was splatted before he could escape. 

“Well...so much for dodging.” Aloha whistled, before hopping back up to the top of the ramp. He noticed Rider super jumping to him, assuming he was in need of backup. Headphones appeared to be trapped on the middle section of the bridge. The Dualies had respawned fairly quickly and decided to target her, Headphones looked a little overwhelmed.

“Guess we gotta do this the old fashioned way Rider.” Aloha said, throwing Rider a quick wink. “Keep a close eye on me okay?” 

It was 2 versus 1, so Rider and Aloha managed to efficiently destroy the shield, splatting the Pro user before he could escape. The Charger was already rushing their way over to the right pathway. Rider did a quick check around him to make sure no one was attempting to flank him, and caught out of the corner of his eye Headphones slowly jogging over to them.

“S-Sorry for getting distracted…” Headphones apologized.   
“Don’t worry about it, just help me cover Aloha.” Rider ordered before running up ahead.

Blue Team was already close enough to the goal that they could have focused all their energy on protecting the Rainmaker, but alas, Aloha was too much of a show off for that.

Aloha made a dash for the goal, recklessly leaving his teammates behind. 

“Idiot...” Rider muttered before also picking up the pace to catch up with him. Despite his complaining, he was secretly a little impressed. Rider’s playstyle was one built on pure brute force. As long as you could get rid of anyone that was in your way, you wouldn’t have to worry too hard about completing the objective. But Aloha’s never been too fond of explicitly offensive play styles. Rider watched a little dumbfounded as Aloha dodged and weaved through enemy fire, executing fancy footwork despite having to carry such a cumbersome object. He wasn’t even bothering to fire the Rainmaker.

Aloha finally reached the top of the gate, back on solid ground. “Rider, don’t just stand there. Paint a path for me!”

“D-Don’t boss me around.” Rider snapped back before jumping off the highest part of the railing onto the bottom section. He managed to get halfway up the pathway before he was nicked by the E-Liter that was hiding on the fence.

Rider was about to yell out to warn Aloha, but the charger was suddenly taken out by a flurry of burst bombs. Goggles’ head poked around the corner, running to catch up with the rest of the group. The sheepish expression on his face denoted that he wanted to apologize, but he turned to focus on the battle instead.

The two members of Blue Team seemed to have finally gathered their bearings, protecting Aloha from the sides, while Rider manned the front. Being so close to the enemy spawn was an invitation for the enemy time to gang up on Aloha, but Rider was able to hold them back in such close quarters.

With a skip and hop, Aloha firmly planted the Rainmaker on the podium. 

“How’s that?” Aloha said, cooly leaning on the Rainmaker. The enemy team groaned in frustration, paired with some quiet cursing.

“Woah! We did it!” Goggles exclaimed, pulling Headphones into a hug. 

“O-Only cause you got carried by your freak teammates!” the Dualies of the other team angrily shouted back. “I demand a rematch!” 

Aloha spun around, to rest his back on the Rainmaker, folding his arms and tapping his foot. “Now, now, that’s not very good sportsmanship. It’s not my fault 4 players couldn’t take down two people.” he taunted, a subtle smirk painting his face.

“Rrrggh…” The Dualies didn’t have anything to say in response to that. The match rotation buzzer suddenly went off. The leader glanced back one last time before super jumping off with his team to the other stage.

Aloha then quickly spun around back to Rider, flashing a peace sign.   
“Did you see how cool I was Rider~?”

“Y-Yeah…” Rider timidly replied, not wanting to let on how much he was actually impressed.

“You were super cool too! I guess the rumors were true!” Aloha went on. “No one stood a chance against you.” 

Rider did his best to hide how flattered he felt, being complimented by a S4 member. Shortly thereafter, he felt the breath get knocked out of him as Goggles apparated out of nowhere to tackle-hug him.

“Rider you were sooooooo great! I gotta practice a lot and get as good as you some day!”

Finally gathering his bearings, he peeled Goggles off of him before immediately slipping back into teacher mode.  
“You guys didn’t do too bad near the end, but try to keep your cool next time, alright? Me and Aloha aren’t always gonna be here to help you out.” 

“I’m…I’m sorry!” Headphones quickly apologized, her face turning bright red. “I-I’ll do my best next round!”

“Yeah me too! I’m gonna take the match next round, just you watch Rider!” Goggles followed up.

“I’m counting on you guys.”

Rider glanced up and noticed Aloha was still staring at him, head propped on his hand.   
All Rider could do was stare right back.

\----

“You know the plan right? Just keep moving, even if you get splatted, a couple steps can go a long way.”

“Yeah!”

Round Two. Since they were the victors of the last match, they didn’t have to rotate to the alternate map quite yet. While waiting for their opponents to show up, Rider tried his best to run the last match through his mind, taking notes on how to better coach Goggles and Headphones. Aloha had his hand in his pocket, .96 in the other, whistling and kicking his feet.

“Don’t get all relaxed on me now.” Rider softly commented.

“You’re so serious all the time, Rider” Aloha laughed, adjusting his visor.

The other team finally arrived, and they all headed to the middle of the map to coordinate. Thankfully, their opponents this time just looked like a group of friends playing for fun. Rider didn’t let his guard down either way, groups like this could be just as serious as any other League team. 

‘Splattershot Jr., Carbon Roller, Luna Blaster, N-Zap ‘89. Got it.’ Rider surveyed. A team that had the upper hand on speed. He would have to be more careful with his Dynamo flicks.

The timer went off, and everyone rushed out in unison. This time around though, they didn’t make it to the middle quick enough. They saw the shield rapidly breaking in the distance before they even hit the halfway point.

The Splattershot Jr. picked up the Rainmaker and boldly decided to take the middle route, relying on their teammates back them up with bombs. They managed to swim up onto the bottom rail pathway, zoning Blue team with their bombs. Luckily Headphones decided to pull back, hiding on the top of the fence. She then successfully splatted the Carbon Roller and Splattershot in a row. 

“Nice!” Goggles’ called out. Not to be outdone, he threw a couple burst bombs out to the Luna Blaster, managing to scare them away from the bubble. This gave Aloha and Rider enough time to wail on the shield, bursting it in no time at all.

Goggles took the gap in the battle to pick up the Rainmaker and rushed to the goal. He took the same route he did last time, still unconfident with the middle portion of the map. All 3 of his teammates chased after him, feeling confident in their chances so far. While the opposing team acted very aggressive, they weren’t nearly as disciplined as the last team they went up against, giving them the edge.

Unfortunately, this ended up giving Goggles too much confidence, and neglected to wait for his teammates to catch up with him. He continued swimming ahead until he reached the railed pathway. 

The enemy team was quick on their feet , and were waiting for him next to the podium. He had nowhere to hide this time, as they open fired on him.

“A-Aaaaah!” he yelped, before instinctively turning into a squid to run away, this only resulted in him slipping through the railing and into the ink below. 

“Get him!” the other team’s leader shouted out, as they jumped down to surround him. They followed, still pointing their aim at him, and slowly pushed him into a corner. Goggles was panicking, trying to recall all the advice Rider gave him before the match started. He looked up and saw Rider on the ledge above him, attempting to save him.

“Rider…!” Goggles called out, before doing something, that was honestly, truly, excruciatingly ridiculous. It wouldn’t be a Blue Team battle after all.

Rider didn’t even have time to object. Well, he wasn’t sure what he could have possibly done to stop it from happening. All he knew is that he had to drop his Dynamo stat before he was crushed by 30 pounds of of gold-plated, spiritual bullshit.

He slid back a bit as he fell on his ass, miraculously catching the Rainmaker. He stared forward in stunned silence. The other team was staring too, except in extreme confusion.

“Wh...Goggles....wh...” Rider babbled, unable to form a coherent sentence. 

“Do you know how much that thing weighs?!” the opposing N-Zap blurted out, apparently just as shocked as Rider was. “How did you throw it that far!? Let alone throw it at all!?” 

“I knew Rider would be able to catch it haha!” Goggles simply replied, scratching the back of his head.

“No! Time out! Time out!” the N-Zap objected, the only one who seemed to have any agency in this situation. “Ref! There’s no way that’s allowed right!?” 

Judd lazily turned to look at the MC, who was also still trying to process what they just witnessed.

“Um...I...don’t see why it would be…” they stuttered out, flipping through their pocket rule book. “He, uh...technically didn’t drop it so…”

“Wh-Whatever!” the Luna Blaster spluttered out. They turned their aim at Rider. “There’s no way were gonna lose to idiots like you!”

Before Rider could get back on his feet dodge, Aloha conveniently swam up beside him and splatted the Blaster user point blank.

“I’ll take it!” Aloha cheerfully said before running up the pathway. “Come on Rider! Fortune favors the bold!” he called out, raising a fist in the air.

Rider hastily tried to follow, but was still unused to carrying the Rainmaker. He rarely ever bothered picking it up in solo Ranked, so despite his S+ status, felt out of his element all of a sudden. Thankfully he found he could lift it with ease, but the sequence of events that just occurred were really throwing him for a loop. Not to mention he had to suddenly discard his weapon on the ground, instead of clipping it to his back. He prayed that his precious child wasn’t damaged.

Aloha was doing his usual acrobatics again, keeping the enemy team at bay. It looked like Headphones got taken out on the bottom ramp, but Goggles nabbed the N-zap and Carbon Roller before they could chase after Rider.

Rider casually swam up and planted the Rainmaker, taking victory for Blue Team once again.

Goggles began clapping in celebration. “You did it Rider!”   
Aloha joined in too, just to antagonize him. “Yep! That was all you Rider. Good work out there!”

“Sh-Shut up.” Rider responded, quickly sliding off the podium. There was nothing he loathed more than being the center of attention.

The opposing team looked a little bummed out, but mostly felt exasperated by the strange playstyle they just witnessed. Hopefully their next match would be a little more controlled.

“G-Good game…” the Splattershot waved, before following their teammates to the other map.

Rider slowly turned to Goggles, who was still beaming at him.

“I suppose….that was...an improvement. Just don’t do that next time.” 

“Okaaaay~” Goggles responded, scratching the back of his head. He was totally planning on doing it next time Rider wasn’t around.

Rider suddenly remembered that his Dynamo was still lying abandoned on the ground, and abruptly left to go and get it. He picked it up carefully and slowly rotated it around, thoroughly searching for any loose screws or dents. He breathed a sigh of relief, his earlier annoyance with Goggles fading away.

He looked back up at the top of the platform where his teammates were chatting. His eyes fell on Goggles, watching him laugh at some dumb joke Aloha made. His teammates...really were amazing. He felt unnecessary feelings suddenly rise up to his chest, and shut his eyes, stuffing them back down.

“Rider, you good? We’re gonna rotate maps soon!” Headphones called out, noticing Rider staring intensely at the water. She wondered why he was taking so long.

“Oh, yeah. Thanks.” he called back, before making his way back up the pathway. He figured he could save his moping for when he got home.

\---

The four of them got a couple more matches in before it got close to 4PM, and Rider decided to tap out. Thankfully the the last few rounds went by with zero incidents. Goggles and Headphones seemed to have a decent grasp on the basic strategies of the game. Rider and Aloha were able to stay in the backlines for the most part, giving support when needed.

The two members of Blue Team decided to mess around in Turf War a bit longer before heading home, so Rider gave his usual silent nod, and made his way back to the station. Of course, not without Aloha stopping him right in the middle of the square.

“...Yes?” he said, not bothering to hide the irritated look on his face.

“Didn’t we promise Headphones not to fight anymore?”

“I don’t recall ever making such an arrangement.” Rider coldly replied. “Can we not have a repeat of yesterday? I’m ready to go home.”

Aloha blankly stared at him, before quickly snapping back to his usual grin. “Well, I just wanted to compliment you again on what a fantastic job you did today, Rider.”

“Uh...you too.” he said back, suddenly feeling a little guilty. He’s just so used to this guy always fucking with him. Even now, he struggled to let his guard down.

“I’m serious!” Aloha kept going. “I think we make a really deadly duo! Yellow-Green team is really lucky to have a dedicated leader like you.”

Rider could feel a blush form on his cheeks, overwhelmed by the sudden onslaught of praise.

“I-I get it okay? If you’re trying to flirt with me, you’re not being very subtle about it” he said, hoping that dig would get this playboy off his back. 

It ended up doing quite the opposite.

“Is that a problem?” Aloha almost whispered, his voice suddenly adopting a completely different tone. It wasn’t too different from the one he had yesterday. 

Then all of a sudden, it felt like Aloha was way too close. Like, way, way too close. Rider was so distracted by the sudden warm breath on his ear, he almost didn’t feel his wrist being gently grabbed and lifted up. He felt the back of his fingers brush delicately against the other inklings soft lips, the calluses on his hands creating a contrast against his skin he wasn’t quite expecting--

And just as soon as Aloha was there, he was gone. 

“Whoops! My bad! I forgot, you don’t like being touched right?” Aloha chuckled, holding his hands up like he was caught stealing something.

Rider wasn’t even really all that sure what just happened. “Uhhh...yeah.” he mumbled, scratching his ear. He felt his heart pounding out of his chest.

“Text you later then.” Aloha waved before making his way out of the square. 

Rider had to use all his willpower to not stare at him as he wandered away. He desperately tried to remember what he was doing 10 seconds ago.


	3. Sinker

“You...threw it?”

All the members of Blue Team were sitting on the grass, enjoying their lunch. The beginning of the week had inevitably rolled around again, forcing the inklings to return back to their menial school life. It didn’t happen to bother Goggles too much, since Blue Team trained during this time. He always looked forward to any opportunity to train with his team as much as possible.

“Yeah! You should have seen the look on Rider’s face!” Goggles exclaimed, haphazardly swinging his drink around.

“It was kind of humiliating….but at least we took the match.” Headphones reluctantly added, not wanting to encourage his behavior. She sipped her juicebox in deep thought.

“Anyways...that’s our secret weapon Glasses!” 

Glasses nervously adjusted the spectacles upon his face. “Uhh, but if you start abusing it too much, won’t other teams start breaking the rules too...?” he muttered, fully taken aback from what he was hearing. He was trying his best to visualize what his teammates were describing to him, and failing.

Goggles suddenly sprung up to his feet, his excitement getting the better of him. “Well, then, we just gotta do it better than everyone else! Right?”

“I’m on board!” Bobbles chimed in.

The bell for lunch period chimed, cutting the group’s casual team meeting short.

“Okay then, see you later!” Goggles called out, hastily gathering his stuff and running off to his next class.

“How is he late for school everyday, but still manages to be such a busybody…?” Headphones wondered out loud.

“Who knows.”

\----

3:00 PM finally rolled around, and all of the Blue Team met up at their usual spot, before heading for the train station. They all idly played on their phones as they waited for the train to arrive, occasionally flashing something on their screen to each other and politely laughing. The station was lively as one would expect on a week day, sea life of all kinds shoving past each other to begin their afternoon errands. 

“Do you wanna try Ranked today Glasses?” Goggles asked.

“What, really? I kinda just wanted to practice Turf today…?”

“But we did Turf yesterdaaaay. Me and Headphones were fine that one time! It’s easy!”

“Yeah, but you had two S+ players to carry you...plus it’s Clam Blitz right now...ugh…”

They bickered like that for awhile before the train finally arrived, and they all took off for the square.

“You say that Glasses, but haven’t you been trying really hard to rank up for awhile now?” Bobbles questioned, kicking her feet.

Goggles seemed flustered by that question. “Uh, um, I mean yeah...but…”

“Oh yeah, you’re A in almost everything right? We’re around the same level.” Headphones joined in.

“That’s such a high level!”

“Yeah, only cause you’re still somehow trapped in C- Goggles…”

“It’s not my fault! All my teammates always waste their time yelling at me!”

“But isn’t that all we do also...?” Headphones responded, chuckling.

“Yeah, but when you guys yell at me, I know that’s just how you show you care about me!”

Bobble burst out laughing at that, and the rest of Blue Team couldn’t help but join in.

“Okay...we can do League tomorrow, Goggles. But you can’t make me touch Clam Blitz.”

“Deal!”, Goggles smiled back at him with his usual toothy grin.

They finally arrived at Inkopolis Square, greeted by the familiar loud music and chattering of the square. Thankfully the crowd was a little bit more controlled during the weekday, as it seemed not as many inklings were willing to divide time between studying and battling.

They sauntered their way over to the tables by Crusty Seans to being their habitual team meeting. Despite not having any proper battles lined up for today, they still liked to discuss strategies and new techniques they could practice in free play. Of course, they never seemed to get very far with their discussions, as Goggles or Bobble inevitably get bored and begin to aggressively change the subject.

“Right now the current stage rotation is Arowana Mall and Shellendorf Institute, Arowana Mall is a good place for chargers with longer ranges, so maybe we should…” Glasses began babbling, only Headphones paying attention and listening.

Goggles sat with his head propped on his hand and swung his feet back and forth, not making any attempt to hide his boredom. Glasses constantly chastised him for his lack of participation in the past, but seems to have given up as of late. His victory against the Emperor Team was evidence enough that Goggles was the kind of kid that could fall asleep in class and ace all his quizzes anyways. (Though in terms of Goggles’ actual school life, this was far from the truth, despite Glasses’ generous analogy.)

Goggles was taken out of his daydreams by a slight nudge against his leg.

“Heeey, Goggles…” Bobble discretely mumbled.

“Uh-huh.”

“How is the thing with Rider going?”

“Good? He’s good.”

“Nooo, I mean like. Has anything else happened yet? I heard you got to play Turf War alone together on Saturday…!” 

“H-Huh? U-Um...well…”

Bobble’s smile seemed to somehow grow wider, as she leaned in closer. “C’moooon, spill it!”

“Ahem.”

Goggles and Bobble both looked up with a start, being greeted by a scowling Glasses.

“Could you at least pretend to be listening?”

They both quickly mumbled sorry before shifting back and attempting to be quiet again. Bobble folded her hands in front of her and sat quietly, her usual ominous smile painting her face. Goggles went back to sitting with his head on his hand, attempting to hide the light blush that he felt forming on his face. He couldn’t help but get way too flustered when his friends tried to grill him about Rider.

After all, everyone knew. Probably anyone with a vague association with Blue Team knew, with the exception of Rider himself. The fact of course, that Goggles had the worlds biggest crush on him. Goggles was practically screaming it off the top of a rooftop every time he had any public interaction with Rider.

Goggles wasn’t willing to admit it though. Or at least, out loud. He was fully aware of the annoyance that Rider held for him, and gave up on his dreams of somehow getting together with him a long time ago. He wasn’t able to fully hide his affections of course, but still did his best to respect Rider’s boundaries. His teammates constantly teasing him about it didn’t do much to ease his anxiety either, but they never seemed to take him seriously when he expressed how he felt about the whole situation.

Goggles closed his eyes and went back to daydreaming as Glasses droned on and on about strategies. Flanking, sub weapons, brand versatility...the 2 hour layover would reset by the time Glasses would be finished with his boring lecture.

“Ah, hey, isn’t that Rider?”

Goggles snapped out of his reverie and quickly spun around, both excited and surprised to hear that. “Where!?”

“Over by the entrance of the Deca Tower.” Headphones observed.

“Huuuh? Really? Where, where?” Goggles asked again, leaning on the back of his chair, dangerously tempting it to tip over.

Sure enough, he eventually spotted the surly inkling was making his way out of the tower. But to Blue Team’s surprise, someone else was tagging along behind him. Aloha…?  
No one was really quite sure what to make of that. Most folks knew Rider’s tolerance for frivolities was low, and Aloha was the last person they expected him to be hanging out one-on-one with.

“Maybe he’s on a date!” Bobbles loudly exclaimed, which resulted in panicked glances from Glasses and Headphones, but Goggles didn’t seem to hear, or mind.

“Huh. Weird. Well we should probably leave them--” Glasses started saying, but it was too late. Goggles had already rolled out of his seat and was sprinting towards the pair. 

“Well so much for that…” he sighed, the rest of the team following to make sure Goggles stayed out of trouble.

“Riiiiiiiider!”

Rider’s head instinctively popped up, recognizing the telltale sound of the blue inkling. He quickly spun around, keeping a tight grip on his shorts.

“Daaang Rider, I can’t even sneak one in anymore! I gotta up my game.”

“I don’t think loudly calling out your victim’s name could be considered ‘sneaky’ in any context...” Rider responded, deadpan as always. Goggles laughed loudly in response, silently noting that Rider didn’t seem as agitated as he usually was.

“Yo, Goggles. Yo, Blue Team.” Aloha cheerfully greeted as the rest of them finally caught up.

“Heeey, I’m surprised to see you two hanging out.” Headphones replied, shifting her eyes back between the two of them.

“Awww what does that mean?” Aloha said in an overly dejected voice, before putting his arm around to Rider’s shoulder. Rider grunted in annoyance. “If it weren’t for you guys we wouldn't have been able to put aside our differences you know?” 

“Woooah, do you guys seriously get along now!?” Goggles excitedly interrupted, his eyes sparkling with hope and amazement.

He reached out and pulled the edge of Rider’s jacket to his face, choking out a sob. “Rider…you finally made...a friend besides me….!”

“Okay, now both of you are pushing it.” Rider growled, shoving both of them off at once. He didn’t understand why everyone had to be so goddamn touchy feely all the time.

“Hey, Goggles, c’mon. We gotta start training, you can mess around with Rider later.” Glasses called out, knowing how carried away Goggles could get.

“Oh, sorry. Ooooh!!!” Goggles clapped his hands together, clearly an idea had shot into his brain.

“Why don't you guys join us in Turf War? We've been practicing really hard since Sunday, Rider!”

“Oh, I wouldn't mind that--” 

“Sorry! We have other plans!” Rider’s response was suddenly cut off by Aloha speaking up.

“We'd really love to, you know, but we've been Turfing all day! Maybe next time!” he explained, with an apologetic smile.

“Huuuh, really?” Goggles seemed sad, learning that he'd have to part ways with Rider. “Where are you going then?”

“Hmm, something to eat?”

“Food? I wanna go!” 

“Goggles…” Glasses groaned, before forcefully grabbing him by the shoulders of his jacket. 

“Sorry he's like this Rider, we’ll catch you two later, alright?” 

“For sure!” Aloha waved, before heading the opposite direction, dragging Rider along with him.

Goggles couldn’t help but stare for a couple seconds when he noticed the way Aloha grabbed Rider’s hand. He hesitated a bit before heading into the tower with the rest of his team.

\----

Rider was granted one full day of rest, before he received a string of texts at 9:00AM in the morning. 

The work week had officially started up for Rider again, and he was forced to return back to his soul sucking kitchen job. He was a line chef in some quaint diner located around the Eastern side of Inkopolis. The last thing Rider wanted was to encounter someone he knew while on the clock, so Rider purposefully applied to places he knew young folks would be unlikely to venture in to.

As far as minimum wage jobs went, it wasn't too bad. He got to wake up super early and leave around the afternoon, letting him barrel through his work day as quickly as possible.

He didn't hate it, but didn't exactly love it either. It was just a thing he did. He took extra care to not let any of his coworkers find out that he was the kind of person to play Turf War, and for the most part gathered that they didn't care, since no one seemed to ever recognize him.

Rider was slowly organizing the walk in freezer, when he suddenly felt his phone buzz 4 consecutive times in his back pocket. He learned his lesson the first time, there was no way that could be anyone but Aloha.

He decided to ignore it for now, and went about doing his morning chores. After finishing his prep for opening rush, he slinked back into the dry storage and crouched in the corner, trying to formulate the perfect text in his head on how he was going to tell Aloha to fuck off.

**> Good Morning Beautiful~! ✨🤙🌺  
>I was gonna wait for you to text me first lol  
>But it seems i misunderestimated your shyness…..  
>Wanna hang out today? ^.^**

Rider felt his intense anxiety from Sunday wash over him, vividly remembering Aloha’s little stunt from last time. He...he was flirting right? He had to be flirting. Yes. Rider wasn’t quite sure how he was supposed to act in this situation. His romantic endeavors had never gone past any stage other than “stare intensely at the cute girl from your biology class from 10 seats away”. 

>shouldn't you be in class right now young man

**> Shouldn't you be working?**

>i'm on break idiot  
>and uuuuuh  
>i get off work at 3. if youre okay with that.

**> :o  
>Rider...don't tell me…you're accepting my proposition?  
>With no mind games and self made hurdles to barrel through?**

>ok i change my mind actually. i think i'm gonna go straight home and sleep

**> Noooo!!  
>Your just so cute Rider!!! I truly can't help it!!!!**

>...................  
>i'm going back to work. please stop texting me in batches. it's very annoying.

As Rider slipped his phone back into his pocket, he felt it buzz 3 more times. He was trying not to immediately regret his decision to entertain this weirdo.

Finally, the end of the work day rolled around, granting much-needed mercy on Rider’s back and feet. Tuesdays weren’t awful as far as customer traffic went, but thankfully the rush was just busy enough to distract Rider from his thoughts.

He gave a quick wave to all of his coworkers as he speedily made his way out of the store, thankful he could finally escape this prison cell and return back to the world of the living. Rider was aware his trials were far from over however, as he spotted Aloha leaning against the bike racks waiting for him.

“Hey.” Aloha simply greeted.

“Hi.”

Aloha softly smiled at him, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning on. He still had his backpack on from school, but appeared to have already changed out of his uniform.

“So, what’s on the menu for today?” Aloha asked, as the two of them began their trek to the station.

“It was your idea to hang out…”

“Well there’s nothing wrong with making sure we're both having a good time!”

Rider shrugs. “I mean...I'm okay with just turfing.”

“But isn't that what you do everyday? Don't you have any other hobbies?” Aloha teased with a smirk, but immediately faltered when Rider kept giving him that grumpy look of his.

“I'm taking that as a no.”

“Well...what do you usually do then?” Rider asked, feeling awkward all of a sudden. He zipped his jacket all the way up and looked to the side. He was already so far out of his comfort zone. Was he supposed to have more than one hobby? Damn.

Aloha swung his bag in his hand as he walked. “I don't knooooow, go to the mall, eat somewhere new, sit on the floor of my room and smoke until I pass out.” 

“Hmm.”

“You really just wanna Turf?”

“....I had fun, Sunday.”

Aloha’s ears perked up, and eased his walking pace. He clearly picked up on the change in Rider’s tone.

“Um...it was fun. Not being a leader for once. It was nice playing with other people on my level, I guess? You're, uh...I feel confident. When I'm playing with you.”

Rider internally cringed, knowing how much he sounded like an idiot saying that. He continued avoiding eye contact. God, he was so awful at talking. He's used to Goggles doing all the talking for him.

“Plus, uh, today's one of the few times I don't have to train with my team or Blue Team so…”

Aloha looked a little surprised, not expecting to encounter this side of Rider today. He quickly put back on his usual smile and slipped his backpack back up onto his shoulder.

“Welllll when you put it like that, you sure make Turf War sound like the #1 dating activity for hot couples.”

“Wh-Who said this was a date!?” 

Aloha just laughed. “C’mon, lets go.”

They continued their way to the station. Rider shoved his hands into his pockets, and fell back so he could trail behind Aloha to hide his flustered expression. Aloha however quickly adjusted his pace so that he was consistently walking side by side with him.

“How was work?”

“Boring.”

“Yeaaahhh, not looking forward to getting a job, like ever.”

“Are you not planning to head straight for college?”

“College? Eh...I guess. Playing it by ear. I have good enough grades, I guess.”

Rider snorted. “Now that, I don't believe.”

“Hardy har, what's that supposed to mean? Last time I checked, one of us was a high school dropout.” Aloha chuckled as he playfully punched Rider’s arm. Rider couldn't help but laugh too. Aloha thought Rider looked good with a smile.

“At least I'm not lying to myself anymore about ever getting a real job.”

“Whaaaat, you're not gonna get into professional turfing?”

“Uh...not really. You've seen me play.”

“Yeah, and you're like, amazing dude. Don't sell yourself short.” Aloha insists. He attempts to grab Rider’s shoulder, but misses his mark as Rider quickly pulls away.

“I dunno….”

“I think you're onto something Rider! Maybe you could replace Army in the S4, ahaha!” Aloha cackled that last part out, before quickening his pace again.

Rider decided to make no comment, and kept his gaze aimed at the concrete. The tension from earlier had been lifted slightly, but he still felt painfully aware of his lack of social skills. He was internally thankful that Aloha was so good at holding conversations about nothing. Must be why he’s so popular.

The two of them finally made it to the station and boarded the line that leads to the square. Rider stared silently out the window while Aloha sat on his phone. After a couple minutes of silence Aloha piped up.

“You mentioned earlier about how you feel like a leader all the time.”

Rider shifted his eyes over to Aloha, who was sitting back casually, flicking through his Inkstagram feed.

“Yeah.”

“I mean, obviously you’re the team leader of Yellow-Green. But don’t you feel like your teammates are on the same level as you?”

“Do you, with Pink team?”

“Well, duh! Why would we all be on the same team then?”

Rider knit his eyebrows, feeling a tad naive all of a sudden. He thought back to his first match with his current team, and how painfully uncoordinated they were.

“I mean...I didn’t get my teammates through the most traditional means.”

Aloha couldn’t contain his laughter. “Now what does THAT mean? I thought you guys all met at school are somethin’?”

“Ugh, forget it…” Rider grumbled, folding his arms. He was getting in his head about the whole thing now. He really didn’t want Aloha to find out the first 3 weeks of his relationship with Yellow-Green team was built exclusively on fear.

“C’moooon, you gotta tell me now.”

“Nope.”

“Fine, I’ll just ask Stealth about it.”

“Hey…!”

Their playful banter continued then on for the rest of the train ride. No matter how closed off or quiet Rider attempted to make himself, Aloha would continue to fill the silence with mindless small talk.

He wasn’t particularly put off by how chatty Aloha was either, he was no more chatty than Goggles usually was when they hung out. But he was occasionally surprised by the things he’d learn about Aloha. They both held such different perspectives of the world, it made him wonder why they were even hanging out together in this moment. 

They arrived around 2:00PM, just beating the rush of students that would pour in soon from school. Rider personally preferred the Square in this state, it was infinitely more relaxing than having to constantly fight your way through hordes of teenagers. The two inklings planted themselves in the covered entrance of the tower, hugging the wall of electronic boards so they could avoid blocking anyone’s path.

“You wanna do League or Turf?” Aloha asked, meticulously thumbing through his wallet for his membership card.

“You pick.”

“Hmm...Turf!” he punctuated with a flick, lifting his card up Rider’s face. Aloha flashed him a quick grin, before pivoting and striding into the elevator. 

“You better not suck like you did on Saturday, Rider!”

“Oh you’re on.”

\-----

Rider and Aloha decided to take a break after little over an hour of playing. Rider was a little worried Aloha would get bored part-way through, but the two of them had managed to get in some pretty solid matches. They totally dominated the play field whenever they got matched up together, and ended up with some intense one-on-ones, learning how to counter one another’s weapons. Rider felt more fired up than usual, thanks to the constant snide remarks Aloha couldn’t help slip out whenever he played Turf.

As they made their way out of the Tower, Rider felt his heart skip a beat when he heard someone call his name from the distance. He was quick on the draw, and turned to see Goggles barrelling towards him. It had somehow slipped his mind that Blue Team devoted their after-school time to practicing during the week.

He automatically felt all the tension leave his body when he saw Goggles. He couldn’t help it. While he was slowly but surely learning how to enjoy Aloha’s company, he always felt incredibly on edge when he was around other people. Rider was embarrassed to admit that Goggles was still one of the few people he could comfortably call a friend.

The early stages of their relationship felt like a comedy-duo partnership built on extortion, but as time passed, Rider grew more and more fond of the inkling.The life threatening encounters they had in Octo Canyon and the Deepsea Metro did even more to strengthen their bond. But even that aside, the more Rider learned about Goggles personally, the more he found himself genuinely admiring him.

For all of Goggles’ shortcomings Rider felt...safe around him. He could never admit it out loud, but it brought him very much comfort that he could probably act any way around Goggles, and not be judged for it.

“Why don't you guys join us in Turf War? We've been practicing really hard since Sunday, Rider!” 

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind--”

“Sorry! We have other plans!”

Rider glanced at Aloha, a little more than peeved to be suddenly interrupted like that. Aloha proceeded to rattle off some long list of excuses, and before he could even say anything, Rider felt being forcefully herded off away from the tower.

“Hey…!” Rider was reasonably angry, but before he could go off on any sort of rant, he realized Aloha had intertwined his hands with his. They were warm.

Rider quickly snatched his hand away, shooting Aloha an annoyed look. They were standing by the windows next to Crusty Seans truck, mostly away from prying eyes.

“What was that about?” Rider curtly accused, trying his best not to yell.

“What?”

“Telling Blue Team we were busy…”

“Well, we are, aren’t we?” Aloha simply folded his arms and continued to give Rider a blank look. It was starting to piss him off even more.

Rider shoved his hands in his pockets again, deciding to glare at the ground instead. He felt his frustrations from earlier coming back full force. “Yeah, well, I kinda wanted to hang out with them, okay?”

“With Goggles, you mean?”

“Huh?”

“You can see Goggles whenever you want.” Rider noticed Aloha’s tone get a bit quieter, not quite being able to tell if he was angry or sad.

“I wanted this to be time for just us, you know…? Is there something wrong with that?” Aloha mumbled, lifting his head just enough so that he could make eye contact with Rider.

Rider immediately felt like an asshole, getting so worked up over something that didn’t really matter. He could almost physically feel the walls he was trying so hard to break down go right back up. 

Rider let out a heavy sigh, and rubbed his eyes. “...Sorry.” 

“Heeeey, don’t get all mopey on me now!” Aloha immediately tried to flip back to his cheerful self. “Sorry, sorry, I didn’t mean to seem mad, haha!”

“So don’t feel bad, okay? I should have been more clear about my feelings.” Aloha said in that overly-cheery voice of his, reaching out to grab Rider’s shoulder again. This time he caught it, even with Rider attempting to move away.

“...Okay. Sorry for getting mad.”

“No more sorrys! Promise!” Aloha winked and then held out his pinky finger.

Rider stared blankly at him, not sure how to respond.

“What's wrong? You’ve never pinky promised before?”

“Well, yeah, but, uh…”

“C’mon!”

Before Rider could object, Aloha lifted his hand up for him, completing the lock.

“There!” Aloha said with a big grin. 

Rider just stared at him for a few moments in absolute embarrassment, before quickly snatching his hand back and walking away. 

“H-Heeey! Where are you running off to?” 

“You wanted to eat right…? So let’s head back for the station…” Rider mumbled just loud enough for him to hear, his back still turned to Aloha. 

Aloha started laughing again, and eagerly followed. “Alright, but you have to let me pick where we're going.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!! Thank you very much for the kind words and kudos...this fic is very self indulgent so I'm surprised anyone is even entertaining the thought of reading it. I also said this was gonna be like 5 chaps long...but I'm more invested than I thought I would be. I'll try to update quicker next time.


	4. Angling

“Here.”

Rider squinted at the picture Aloha held up to him, it only taking a few seconds for him to realize he was being shown the diner he worked at.

“Fuck you.” Rider grumbled, attempting to swipe the phone out of his hand.

“Just kidding! We’re going here!” Aloha playfully teased, before swiping back a page. It appeared to be something along the lines of Hadalpelagic cuisine, if not that it also looked like a total hole in the wall. Rider however didn’t have any better ideas, and followed along with it.

Aloha’s usual chattiness had appeared to drift off, leaving the two squids walking in silence. Rider didn’t mind, he almost preferred it, but the self conscious part of his brain was subtly convincing him that it was maybe something he had done. He sneakily shifted his gaze, trying to get a read on Aloha’s expression, but was quickly caught, immediately meeting his eyes.

“What’cha thinking about?” Aloha flashed a grin.

“Nothing.” Rider responded in his usual curt manner, breaking eye contact as fast as he could.

“Hmm, I wonder if I believe you.”

The two of them arrived at the restaurant. It was just as seedy as it looked in the photo, a shoddily made neon sign framing the doorway. Rider stood back, letting Aloha lead the way. Thankfully, it appeared the inside was cleaner the outside. He was greeted by a neatly arranged set of tables, along with a bar in the corner. The owner seemed to recognize Aloha, and gave him a friendly wave, then nodding politely at Rider.

“Don’t be shy, sit, sit.” Aloha ushered Rider to the bar. The stool lightly squeaked beneath him as he sat down.

“Everything here is preeeetty good, but your best bet is in their cold sandwich section.” Aloha began listing his recommendations, leaning over to look off of Rider’s menu. Rider tried not to focus on the way Aloha was leaning his body on his.

After they both ordered their food, they quickly returned to their strange silence. All of a sudden, Rider felt strange. Strange about the whole situation. Here he was, hanging out in some weird obscure part of town, with an inkling he wouldn’t have thought of even vaguely looking in their general direction a week ago. Rider knitted his eyebrows, wondering if he had finally lost his mind from the last couple years of relative complete isolation.

“You have that look on your face again.”

Rider lifted his hand off his chin, Aloha was staring at him, a faint smile painting his lips.

“What look..?.”

“I dunno. I just get the impression you’re thinking waaay too hard about something. Also you’re awfully quiet, more than usual.”

“Uhhh…” Rider mumbled, pulling his ponytail a little bit over his head. Was he being rude? His default state has always been rude. It was Aloha’s fault for being so damn quiet all of a sudden. 

“I’m just tired.”

“Aawww, am I wearing you out?”

“Yeah. How does anyone keep up with you?” Rider snidely replied, managing to make Aloha laugh again. A laugh that was growing on him.

“Most of the time they can’t! Well, I think you’re alright Rider.” Aloha responded back softly, swirling his drink in his cup. There was a brief pause between the two of them, before he spoke again. “Thanks for taking the time to hang out with me. I was surprised when you said yes.”

Rider hesitated. “Me too.”

Aloha chuckled, slightly turning away. Rider wondered if he had managed to make him flustered, but dismissed it as wishful thinking.

The mood lightened a bit after that, chatting as they slowly ate their food. Rider was pleasantly surprised by his meal, for whatever reason he expected Aloha’s food standards to be miles below his. Rider was an extremely picky eater, in relation to the quality of his food. He probably took food more seriously than he should, considering his current status in life.

After paying, they idled for a little bit outside the restaurant. Rider checked his phone, no texts, no calls. Expected. Aloha lifted his arms and widely stretched, grunting loudly. 

“It really is way too hot lately huh~?” he commented, making his way to the railing that lined the street. The restaurant was located in the Northern area of Inkopolis, right next to wide span of ocean. Due to the large quantity of beaches, it slowly became a popular spot for the wealthy. Rider was surprised that the small restaurant they just visited was even still in business.

As Rider gazed out at the ocean, he turned as he heard the flicking of a lighter, and was a little surprised to see Aloha smoking a cigarette. 

“You smoke?”

“Yep. Don’t even think about starting a lecture...” he grumbled, letting out a thin puff of smoke. Rider watched as the ocean breeze carried it away.

“You’re good.”

“Want one?”

“Nah.”

“That’s cool.” Aloha simply responded, exhaling again. Rider found himself staring, but didn’t bother looking away. For some reason, he got the impression he was viewing something transient. The way Aloha leaned against the metal railing, the wind softly blowing the side of his hair. He felt he was witnessing a part of Aloha most folks probably didn’t get to see.

Rider looked out the sea again. “I should probably go home.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They made eye contact. Rider felt that feeling of nervousness come back, and he wasn’t sure why. He felt strange again. Like something important was happening, but he wasn’t smart enough to put it into the words he wanted to.

“I live around here, but if you want me to walk you to the station I’m cool with that.”

“I think I’ll be okay.”

“See you later than, grumpy pants.” Aloha teased, leaning backwards, one hand on the railing. He had his usual grin back on.

Rider threw a casual wave and began his way back to the station. He didn’t want to turn around, but he wondered if Aloha was watching him go. He forced himself to keep staring at the ground. That feeling he felt earlier wasn’t going away, and it was beginning to bother him.

He passed by a row of bunched up houses and apartment complexes, and decided to cut through the strip mall. Rider quietly observed all the shops closing, the sun still high in the sky despite it being around 7 o’clock. He didn’t pass through this part of town often, so he enjoyed observing the everyday routines of the people that lived here. Plus he didn’t have to worry about anyone recognizing him.

Rider eventually made it to the station, and plopped himself down on a bench. He hadn’t realize how exhausted he felt until he was finally alone, the weight of everything he’d done today crashing over him. Working everyday made him tired enough, but turfing, along with actively socializing was the nail in the coffin. 

Rider let out a huge sigh, leaning back and shutting his eyes. He expected to see more people at the station around this time, but thankfully he was being given this one blessing. So he thought.

“Rider!”

Rider slowly lifted his head, and felt a jolt of surprise as he found Goggles bounding towards him. Huh. What are the chances. 

“Goggles…”

“Wow! I can’t believe I’m running into you here!”

“Yeah...where’s the rest of your team?”

Goggles somehow looked a little stumped by this question, his smile faltering, but quickly went back to normal. This was not lost on Rider.

“Aaah, I had some errands to do. And, uh...I wasn’t feeling well today I guess.” Goggles quickly responded, shoving his hands in his pockets.

“Are you getting sick?”

“No! Uh, I don’t know, just tired!” Goggles tried to brush it off. Rider could tell something was bothering him, but he knew well from past experience it was impossible to force anything out of this kid.

“That makes both of us then.”

“Oooh yeah, you were hanging out with Aloha! How did that go?” 

“Weird.”

Goggles laugh was drowned out by the sound of the train pulling into the station. They both boarded, the train just as empty as the platform was.

“Talk about a strange matchup, haha!”

“And what’s that supposed to mean…?” Rider grumbled, shooting Goggles a glare.

“Nnnnothing.” Goggles innocently responded, quickly looking down at his phone. “I just know you’re not the type to have friends Rider...” Blunt as always.

“Hardy har.” Rider sighed out, leaning his head back on the seat. Most of the time, Rider would have been happy to see Goggles, but right now he was genuinely worn out. He decided he would let Goggles ramble for now, his neighborhood was only 4 stops away.

“It was his idea anyways…” Rider tried to defend himself, even though he knew Goggles didn’t really care.

Goggles simply nodded, still looking at his phone. Rider was intrigued by his sudden quietness, but summed it up to him being tired from training. What was with chatty idiots suddenly acting weird around him? Maybe he wasn’t just being paranoid.

“...Rider?”

He lazily turned his head to look over, Goggles had put his phone away and was now kicking his feet against the back of the subway seating.

“Yeah?”

“...Do you think I’m annoying?”

Rider wanted to respond ‘yes, and that’s perfectly okay’, but he had enough awareness to tell this wasn’t the time to be making his usual wisecracks. He decided to go with a half truth.

“...I mean, sometimes. Did something happen?”

“Not really...”

“Goggles.”

“I already said nothing happened!” Goggles replied in almost a whine, pulling the collar of his jacket up over his face. Goggles also happened to get overly defensive when something was wrong.

Rider sighed, knowing he shouldn’t have pressed the issue in the first place. But he just couldn’t help worrying about his friend all the time, also knowing from personal experience bottling up emotions wasn’t the most effective way of working through your issues.

After a few moments of awkward silence, Goggles eventually sat up again. He looked like he was thinking really hard, before he quietly spoke.

“...Glasses got really mad at me today, while we turfing.” Rider shifted his eyes back towards Goggles.

“I was really distracted all day...and he kept saying stuff like, that ‘you’ll never actually improve at this rate’ and ‘life isn’t always gonna be some game!’ and stuff like that…”

Goggles played with his drawstrings, carefully thinking about what he wanted to say next.   
“I know he’s just worried about me but...it made me feel. Stuck.”

“And lately I feel stuck. Like, all the time.” Goggles added, lowering his head. “How do you do it, Rider?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re so confident...and cool...and skilled….you’re just on a different level.” Rider felt a little embarrassed receiving so many compliments, it wasn’t too different from how Goggles usually talked to him, but the intimate setting somehow gave his words more weight.

“I’m not as cool as you think I am, trust me Goggles.” Rider let our a forced laugh.

Goggles didn’t respond to that, now staring at his shoes. “Rider?”

“What?”

“Uuuhmm...well...actually, nevermind.” Goggles mumbled, somehow looking even more miserable than before.

“Goggles, you know you can trust me, right?” Rider said as softly as he could. Goggles just nodded, leaving Rider a little frustrated. He decided to reach out and take Goggles’ hand.

Goggles felt his face heat up at the sudden act of affection from his long-time crush, having to resist the urge to pull his hand away. Goggles wasn’t one to shy away from physical affection, but Rider’s never been the first one to act in all the time he’s known him.   
“N-Now you’re the one acting weird, Rider…” Goggles managed to choke out..

“I guess I am.” Rider simply responded, purposefully making direct eye contact. 

They awkwardly sat there for a bit, Goggles’ head going a million miles a minute, frantically searching through his brain for something to say. 

“Seamount Way, Pulling into Seamount Way. Exit the passenger doors, on the left. Seamount Way.”

“Oh, haha, that’s my stop! Well well well!” Goggles blurted out in one breath before snatching his hand away and rocketing up out of his seat. “S-See you tomorrow!!” Before Rider could even get in a goodbye, Goggles sprinted out the doors, running out of the station.

Rider blinked, shocked as to how quickly Goggles had absconded, and deflated back in his seat. Suddenly a wave of embarrassment crashed over him, and he felt like the biggest asshole on the entire planet. Why did he do that? That was so not him. Ugh, he was seriously losing it. Rider decides to blame Aloha. That works.

A couple stops later, he was back in his neighborhood. It was starting to get a little dark out, but managed to make his way home safely. He feverishly thought about his chat with Goggles the whole way home. Overthinking things, as usual.

He crawls his way back to his apartment, and immediately throws himself onto his bed. Rider’s phone buzzed 3 times, so he lazily lifts his phone, already knowing who was texting him. He blearily reads the texts, but he lacked the energy to even think about it, lacked the energy to think about Aloha, so he decided to ignore it for now.

Rider turned over again, now lying face down in his pillow. He began to slowly drift off, pretending that there wasn't an ache in his heart slowly eating him away.

\----

**> You good? Sorry Glasses was an asshole today. You know he's stressed about school.**

>Yeah, thanks…...I'm not mad at Glasses. I'm sorry for taking off like that….

**> I'm sure he feels bad too!! You guys are like best friends.**

Goggles just stared at the text, not sure how he should respond. He guessed Glasses really was his closest buddy, they'd known each other since they were super small. 

Goggles was aware that what he told Rider and Headphones was a half-hearted truth. He wasn't actually that bothered by Glasses freaking out at him, he knew it was his fault this time around anyways. The truth was, he was...jealous. Jealous of Aloha. 

He didn't want to be! Goggles knew it wasn’t healthy to be so over attached to someone that you wouldn’t even allow them to have other friends. He just...couldn't get that stupid image of Aloha grabbing Rider’s hand out of his head. Rider didn't like being touched! Aloha should at least know that much!

Not to mention his bizarre encounter with Rider on the train ride home. Talk about bad luck...he had purposefully wandered off to some weird part of town to avoid running into anyone he knew. Goggles didn’t even want to think about the weird hand grab thing. Rider’s probably sitting at home right now feeling intense guilt for overstepping his boundaries or something. That sounded like something Rider would do. 

If only Goggles had the courage to tell him that he desperately wanted him to hold his hand every waking moment of his life.

Goggles shoved his face into his sheets, and let out a frustrated yell. He had no idea what to do with himself. He pulled up his phone again, staring at his texts from Headphones again. Goggles respected Headphones as a person immensely, and was grateful she was always willing to listen to his problems. Bobble was nice, but way too up in everyone's business all the time, and Glasses somehow had even less romantic experience than Goggles did.

>Headphones can I talk to you about what's bothering me, or are u busy

**> What's wrong?**

>I've been feeling really awful about Rider lately and...I want to tell him how I feel but I'm such a freaking coward!!!  
>He probably hates me… :(

**> Yeaaahh right, you just don't see the way he looks at you when your back is turned.  
>Goggles you need to ask him out!!! I'm serious!!!! He totally likes you back.**

>ugh :(((  
>Okay sorry I’m being weird. Night Headphones, thanks for chatting.

**> No problem! Go get ‘em tiger** 🐯

Goggles cracked a smile at that, before turning over and passing out.

\-----

Rider blinked a couple times, trying to get the sleep out of his eyes during his daily commute. His arms were crossed, protecting his bag as he was lightly jostled around by the people on the subway. Rider was always somewhat annoyed when he got trapped on a morning work rush train, but life could be worse.

Today was a Wednesday, so it was also a training day for him. He was still extremely worn out from yesterday, along with the unnecessary anxiety he picked up from his talk with Goggles. But a job was a job. Rided prided himself on being a leader.

Rider somehow finessed his phone out of his bag, re-reading the text from Aloha last night.

**> I want to thank you again for hanging out w me today~✨✨✨✨  
>Btw!! I'm hosting another party this weekend   
> You should totally come ;000  
>ok good night zzz**

Ah, one of Aloha’s famous pastimes, throwing loud, obnoxious, probably illegal house parties. Parties...were not his style. Well, they could be. But probably not an Aloha party.

Rider was too tired to properly respond last night, but he was definitely too tired to respond now. He did feel a little guilty for ignoring the text for so long. Maybe he could strong arm Aloha into letting Goggles come. Oh, yeah. Goggles.

Rider let out a frustrated sigh. Maybe he'll run into him during training this evening, they arrive around the same time after all. He wasn’t sure if that gave him anxiety, or comfort.

Work went by painfully slow, as usual. As soon as it hit 1:00PM, Rider quickly packed up his stuff and dashed home to retrieve his Dynamo Roller. Rider was so desperate to not let any of his coworkers know he played Turf, he wouldn't even bring his weapon case to work.

Thoughts of Goggles still tormenting his mind, he manages to arrive at the square before all his teammates, and quietly seats himself at a table. Rider catches himself periodically scanning the square, looking for any signs of the Blue Team. He somewhat feels embarrassed by this behavior, like a school boy constantly on the lookout for their crush. He lowers his head down in frustration.

“Heeeey.” A tomboyish voice calls out to him. Rider looks up to find Blazer, greeting him with a waggly finger wave. 

Everyone involved in the tournament scene was aware Yellow-Green team has dubious origins, but over the past few months of good honest training, they've really become quite the team. Rider wasn't sure how he managed to get his hands on such talented players, seeing as they originally only joined his team out of respect and bribery, but things seemed to have worked out in the end.

“Hey.”

“Heard ya had a date yesterday.”

Rider's head snaps back in shock. “Wh...who told you.” he defensively growls, trying not to raise his voice.

Blazer starts laughing hysterically, not intimidated by her leader at all. “Woah! Oh my god! Were you actually on a date? I just heard from Octoglasses you guys hung out!”

Rider blushed furiously. Goddamnit. He really didn't want anyone to know, let alone his anyone on his own team. 

“Just don't tell Stealth and Bamboo okay…” Rider mumbled, putting his face in his hands in defeat.

“Of course!” She already did. 13 hours ago.

Eventually Stealth and Bamboo show up, cheerfully greeting their team leader. Rider wouldn't tell his other teammates this of course, but he considered Bamboo the strongest of his 3 companions. Blazer mentioned to him once that her main hobby is wood carving, so he theorizes her practiced patience played into the way she approached battles. 

Stealth was a little rough around the edges, but unlike most inklings who played Turf, he appeared to actually believe in effectively using teamwork. Rider found it funny how well the weapons they chose matched their personalities.

After some small talk, they all huddled together around the small table to begin their team meeting. Even though Rider was the leader of the group, he actually wasn't all that great at management. He was just was good at bossing people around. Their meetings always ended up being short and sweet, but his teammates didn't seem to mind. It’s just how they rolled.

The whole time Rider talked, Bamboo and Stealth were trying not to stare holes through their leader’s skull. As far as Rider was aware, only Blue Team and Blazer knew about his little excursion with Aloha. Stealth’s goggles and Bamboo’s hat thankfully gave them the camo they needed, as Rider finished up his briefing.

“Any questions?”

Yellow-green Team responded with total silence, per usual.

“Alright…” Rider stood up out of the chair, lugging his weapon’s case with him. “Splating or .52 Gal today, Blazer?”

“Splatling~!” she exclaims, excitedly raising her fist in the air. She scoots out of her chair to follow Rider, while Stealth and Bamboo follow suit.

As they make their way towards the tower, Rider is quickly stopped in his tracks by the inkling he both wanted to see the most, and least.

He first sees the back of Goggles’ signature mountain jacket, along with the rest of Blue Team lined up on the benches near the entrance. Rider feels his throat close up a little, but tries his best to calm down by taking a deep breath through his nose. After all, it was just Goggles. He had no reason to be scared.

“Uh...can you guy’s hold on for like 10 minutes?” Rider turns to his team. They all nod, an obvious smile present on Blazer’s face.

“Um. Hey.” Rider greets, shuffling over to the Blue Team.

Goggles spins around, and Rider sees a brief look of panic flash across Goggles’ face before settling on a nervous smile. 

“...H-hey.” 

The pair of them look at each other for a moment, not sure who should speak first. The rest of Blue Team is also staring at them awkwardly, not sure how they were supposed to interpret this vibe.

“Listen, uh, let’s go over here. Okay?” Rider mumbles, before hastily pulling Goggles over nearby the Salmon Run booth. Rider tries his best to ignore the way Headphones and Bobble lean to see where they’re going.

They’re encompassed by the shadows, making Rider feel a little bit more comfortable. It was the only place in the square that had any semblance of privacy.

“....Uh, I wanted to apologize, for yesterday. If I made you uncomfortable, I didn’t mean to.” Rider starts, rubbing the back of his neck. He felt like he was having Deja vu for some reason. 

Goggles suddenly starts giggling, and Rider is a little taken aback. “What…?” he questions, a bit dejected.

“I was just...heheh...thinking last night, about how you were probably overthinking that conversation we had.” Rider felt a blush forming on his cheeks. “Guess I was right!”

“Yeah, yeah…” Rider grumbles, kicking a pebble away. “But. I’m serious, you know.”

“About what?” Goggles tries his best to stifle his laughter, and settles for a polite smile.

“I’m serious about always being there for you Goggles. I know your thing is acting happy all the time and everything but, if you ever need help...I’m there for you Goggles.”

Goggles couldn’t help but burst out into one of his big smiles, it was somehow even brighter than usual. “That makes me happy.”

Rider caught himself staring, and pointedly looked to the side. He felt his heart speed up a little bit. Goddamnit, this kid was actually going to be the end of him.

“But I should be the one apologizing you know, I shouldn’t have run off like that.” Goggles fidgeted with his sleeves. “I was feeling really weird yesterday but...I’m fine now! Seeing you made me feel even better!” he added with a small chuckle.

“...I’m glad.” Rider managed to respond. 

“Our teams are waiting for us, huh?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“Wanna turf together?”


	5. Strike

“Do you think Goggles finally got the guts to do it…?”

“Yeah, right.”

“What about Rider?”

“Okay, don’t even joke about that.”

“Yeah b--wait, sssh, sshh, here he comes.”

Each member of Yellow-Green team awkwardly shifted their weight, as soon as Blazer alerted the team that the two inklings were finished with their conversation. They all watched them intensely through the glass, making no attempt to hide their staring.

Headphones was the first to see Rider walk up, with Goggles trailing not too far behind. She offered Rider a small smile, before turning over to Goggles. 

“You guys good? No fighting?” 

“Yeah!” Goggles nodded, smiling wide. “Hey, hey, hear this! Rider agreed to train with us!”

“Great. I’m always up for a challenge.” Glasses confidently says, pushing his glasses back up. “Your team better watch out Rider, we’ve gotten super strong lately.”

“So have we.” Rider replies with a cocky smirk. He motions his team over, who happened to still be huddled in the corner feverishly whispering. He would worry about giving them a stern talking to later.

\----

The fresh, summer air rushes through Diver’s tentacles, as he sped on his bike down through the narrow paths of his neighborhood. 

He’s neglecting to wear a helmet, solely in the name of fashion. He wasn’t even wearing his signature snorkel gear (stupid school dress code, everyone else go to wear their dumbass ridiculous gear). He confidently flies along the empty streets on the lowest gear, any worries of his immediate safety floating somewhere else far away. Aloha didn’t show up to school today, which wasn’t exactly news, but he was allowed to keep tabs on his best friend.

He reaches his home, slowing to a messy stop scattering pebbles on the pavement. Diver threw his bike onto the grass before heading up the stairs to his house. He fumbles for a minute with his house key and lets himself in, kicking his school loafers off onto the mountain of shoes Pink Team likes to hoard at the front entrance.

“Anybody hoooome?” he calls out, wondering if Aloha played hooky today to have a fling with some cute girl, or if he was actually not feeling well for once.

“No?” Diver follows up, striding into the living room. He’s about to throw himself onto the couch before he finds Aloha, lazing around in a strange position. Legs propped up on the back cushions, lying on his back, head near the armrest.

“Oh. Hey.” Aloha halfheartedly greets, not taking his eyes away from his phone.

“And what’s your excuse for today?”

“None.”

“At least you’re getting better at being honest.” Diver jokes, before heading into the kitchen. Straw and Octoglasses weren’t home yet, they decided to head to the mall together after school since Pink Team didn’t happen to have any practice today. Not to mention Aloha’s sudden spike of disinterest in leading the team.

The entirety of Pink Team lived in a fairly priced and cheap house together, mostly thanks to its location. Sure, commuting to school everyday was a pain, but Octoglasses’ and Straw’s parents didn’t mind supporting them for housing, and Diver was able to hold down a part time job. Diver wasn’t too sure what Aloha did for money, but assumed it was none of his business.

Diver rummaged around in their poorly organized fridge, successfully locating a large bottle of chilled barley tea. He slowly screws the cap off, leaning back a little to peep through the doorway to spy on Aloha. Yep. Still glued to his phone. 

He wondered if he was currently harassing the ever elusive ‘Mystery Boy’ he couldn’t seem to shut up about. He called him “mystery boy”, but he knew it was Rider. Octoglasses wasn’t very good at keeping secrets.

“And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.” Diver cryptically states loud enough for Aloha to hear from the kitchen. Diver makes his way back into the living room, taking a swig from the bottle.

“And what’s that supposed to mean…” Aloha mutters, still typing on his phone.

“I’m saying if you spend any longer sitting next to a telephone that’s not gonna ring, I’m gonna come home one day to find a withering corpse where my friend used to be, man.”

“Who said I was waiting for anyone to text me back!” Aloha snaps back a little too quickly, making a show of putting his phone onto the coffee table. Not a second later, it buzzes, loudly reverberating on the glass.

Aloha gasps, scrambling his way into an upright position to pick it back up again. All Diver could do was solemnly shake his head.

** >sure that sounds fun  
>can i bring goggles? **

Aloha let out a long, dramatic groan and let his grasp go limp, his phone plopping onto the floor.

“What?” Diver asks, taking a seat next to Aloha.

“The boy I’m totally flirting with just asked if he could bring his friend to our party.”

Diver let out an obnoxious laugh. “Tough going dude. Probably his boyfriend.” Probably Goggles. What was Aloha expecting?

>Oh, i mean yeah. But are u sure?  
>No offense i just don’t think it’d be goggles thing haha

** >aloha you know how much i hate loud noises and people  
>can i at least bring someone im comfortable with **

>Fiiiine i never even said no lol!!  
>See you Friday ^_^

“Did you give in?”

“Well I wouldn’t use those _exact_ words, but sure.” Aloha replied, clearly trying to hide any dejection in his voice. He suddenly shifted his body, resting his legs out horizontally over the couch, and kicking Diver in the process.

“Dude, stop.”

“Make me!”

\----

“Aaaaand...Blue Team wins!” The board showed a 3% win, eliciting a couple of groans from the Yellow-Green Team. Their sparring score was currently at 6-5, Blue Team in the lead.

Stealth fell back onto the grass, panting a little bit. He didn’t remember Blue Team being this competent. 

“One more match! One more match!” Goggles cheered while waving his Splattershot, seemingly not worn out at all.

“You’re on.” Rider breathily laughed out, wiping the sweat off his chin.

“Guuuuys, we’ve been playing for hours. I’m pooped.” Stealth begged, members from both Blue and Yellow-Green mumbling in agreement.

“Really? But it’s not even 6!”

“It’s 6:30, Goggles.” Bobble corrected him, resting on her upside down slosher.

Goggles didn’t have anything to say in response to that, so he turned back to Rider with a dumb smile. “I guess we should go home, huh?” Everybody on Blue Team sighed in relief.

Everyone gathers up their equipment, throwing back and forth a couple “good games.” Goggles, still full of energy, immediately started bounding towards the exit, but Rider managed to call out to him before he got too far out of earshot.

“Hey, Goggles.”

“Yeah?” Goggles face lit up, the way it always does when Rider says his name.

Rider suddenly felt gripped by nervousness, and found himself hesitating. He hadn’t taken the time to properly think about it earlier, but everything about the scenario made him feel like he was asking Goggles out on a date.

“Aloha’s invited me to one of his parties, and uh, he said I could bring you. Or, y-you know. You’re free to come, if you want. Only if you feel like it.” Rider internally cringed listening to himself speak. He could feel his teammates stares boring into the back of his head.

Goggles smile faltered a little, Rider unsure whether it was out of surprise or disappointment. Was he being rude? Did Goggles dislike parties? Did Goggles dislike him? Oh god, this was all a huge mistake.

“Sure! That sounds fun!” Goggles cheerfully responded before Rider could rescind his offer. 

“I hear Aloha throws the best parties! Have you ever been to one?” 

“N-No? I never really saw the point...”

Goggles laughed, his cheeks scrunching up. “The point is to have fuuuun silly!”

“You’re going to Aloha’s party this weekend?” Blazer’s voice says behind them, Rider and Goggles both turned to see the rest of his team walking up to them.

“Quit eavesdropping.” Rider grumbles, attempting to mask his embarrassment with anger.

“I wouldn’t exactly call it eavesdropping, the two of you always raise 20 decibels the moment you get within 15 feet of each other.” Bamboo tries to stifle her laugh, she’s always respected Blazer for not being scared to occasionally poke the beehive.

“Goggles, are you coming? We’re gonna get something to eat!” Headphones called out.

“I’ll be there in a second!” Goggles called back, then tugged at Rider’s jacket to get his attention. “Text me?”

“Y-Yeah.” Goggles waved goodbye to the rest of Yellow-Green before running back to catch up with his team.

Rider stares at him as he goes, almost feeling a little sad he’s leaving. Nervous excitement fills his chest, but he tries to ignore it. 

“Please, educate me, why haven’t you asked him out yet?”

Rider glares at Bamboo, her eyes just barely visible under the brim of her cap. Her expression doesn’t falter. He turns away again, losing the starting contest. “Wh-Why do you care, it’s not like he’s going anywhere anytime soon.” 

Bamboo narrows her eyes. “That’s what you say...but Goggles is popular...and naive.” 

“Yeeaaah, right Bamboo! Nothing could possibly deter Goggles’ tunnel vision!” Blazer chimed in, clearly having fun.

“Which is why, you, need, to, ask, him, out!” Blazer punctuated each word with a poke in Rider’s stomach, knowing exactly where all of her leader’s weak spots are.

“Is it just me, or have you been way more obnoxious than usual lately.” Rider grumbles, annoyed with Blazer’s sudden enthusiasm in his love life. He gives up trying to maker Blazer stop, so he lifts his case back up on his shoulder and escapes by heading towards the exit.

Blazer laughs, lugging her weapon case upright. “You know, lately he’s stopped denying that he has any sort of attraction towards Goggles in the first place.”

“That’s progress, I guess.” Stealth said.

\----

Goggles shivered, furiously rubbing his arms up and down to keep himself warm. The downside of constantly being surrounded by water on all sides, was how cold it got during the evening. He rocked back and forth, crouching on the sidewalk, waiting for Rider to pick him up. He had agreed to drive him to the party, just in case they stayed too late and weren’t able to catch the last bus home.

He was trying not to let his anxious thoughts eat him alive, particularly the ones that were screaming at the back of his mind that this was a terrible mistake. Knowing Rider was fond of him enough to invite him to a party made his heart soar, but those feelings were always dampened a little whenever he remembered he was going to a party hosted by Aloha. He tried his best to tell himself that there was nothing to worry about, despite the ugly emotions that reared their head whenever he thought of Rider and Aloha together.

Goggles put his head down into his knees and groaned, suddenly feeling like he was going to be crushed by the weight of his own immaturity. As he was busy stewing in his own guilt, he vaguely heard a loud, rumbling noise in the distance that slowly grew in volume. He lifted his head to investigate, surprised to find a rumbling motorcycle drive up, then park in front of him.

“You okay, Goggles?” The inkling on board asked him, before taking his helmet off to reveal it was none other than Rider himself.

Goggles mouth fell open a little bit, but quickly gathered his composure. “You, actually ride a motorcycle? I thought you were just really into leather.”

Rider blushed. “I’m begging you, please think before you speak. But, uh, yeah. This actually used to be my dad’s bike.” He patted the side of his motorcycle. “He was always into nerdy motorized shit. Hop on, I got a helmet for you.” Rider tossed him said helmet, Goggles yelped he just barely caught it.

Goggles stood there petrified for a moment, hugging the helmet to his chest and staring forward.

“...Is something wrong?” 

“N-No…”

“Then let’s...oooh.” Rider couldn’t hide the smile that crept up on his face. “You’re scared, huh?”

“N-No I’m not! Shut up!” Goggles tried to quickly put on a smile, but the sweat slowly creeping down his face gave him away.

“Then get on already.” Rider snorted, trying his best to hold back and not tease him too badly.

It took a bit, but Goggles finally gathered the courage to climb up onto the back of the motorcycle. His feet tightly hugged the rear mudguard, trying his best to balance himself. He sat there awkwardly for a bit, unsure what to do next, his hands white-knuckling the edge of the seat.

“You gotta wrap your arms around me.” Rider coached him.

“Huh!?”

“Don’t make this weird. Or would you rather find out what pavement tastes like?”

Goggles reluctantly wrapped his arms around Rider’s waist, shutting his eyes in embarrassment. He was grateful they weren’t facing each other, otherwise Rider would have seen the steam rising off of his blushing face. They were both wearing fairly thick jackets, but it didn’t change the fact that he was tightly embracing his crush of 2 years on a motorcycle.

“Don’t be scared, I know what I’m doing Goggles. You trust me, right?”

“I-I trust you…” Goggles mumbled, just loud enough for Rider to hear, tightening his grip around him.

It was at least 10% more terrifying than Goggles was expecting it to be. The first thing Goggles noticed, was how loud it was. He could barely hear himself think, not that his thoughts were anything deeper than praying for his life as he sped down the road on a clambering metal death trap.

Goggles kept his head down most of the time, holding onto Rider as tightly as he could. The adrenaline kicked all of his senses into overdrive. He could feel the wind rushing through his body, the shifting of speed on the bike. He instinctively tightened his grip whenever he felt Rider turn on a curve, leaning harder into him. It was almost a little fun. Almost.

“Hey Goggles! Look up!” Goggles heard Rider yell at him.

Even though he was still scared out of his mind, he managed to sum up the courage to pull his face out of Rider’s jacket, and was immediately gripped by the view that met him.

They happened to be riding alongside the curve of a cliff, the only thing separating them from the expansive ocean being a flimsy set of railing. Even through the helmet Goggles could smell the salty wind that rose from the water. Goggles was entranced by the way the sun reflected and danced on the horizon. It almost made this entire life threatening experience worth it.

After about a 40 minute drive, they arrived upon a more secluded wooded area. Goggles breathed a sigh of relief, assuming it was the neighborhood that Aloha lived in. His prayers were answered as the bike eventually slowed down to a much more temperamental speed. Goggles was grateful he could breathe comfortably again.

The two of them parked in front of a house, safely judging it was the correct house by the number of cars huddled in the driveway and lined along the street. 

Rider turned to find Goggles still burrowing his head into his back. “You can let go now, you know.”

“S-Sorry!” Goggles squeaked, shifting back into his earlier sitting position. His legs felt wobbly, adrenaline still rushing through his body. The world felt eerily slow and still. He doubted he could get off the raised seat without falling face flat onto the concrete.

Before he could even attempt getting down, he felt Rider grab his arm and waist. “I got you, you did great.” Rider was smiling just a little, it was a surprisingly soft smile. Goggles earlier apprehensions washed away, smitten by the concept that there was something on this earth that could bring Rider so much joy.

“How was it?” Rider asked as he stored away his helmet and bike gear. He voted against bringing his chain with him, hoping there weren’t any devoted motorcycle thieves roaming middle class suburban neighborhood at this time of night.

“Uuuuhhh, really, cool! And f-fun!” Goggles half lied.

“Hmmm, want me to teach you how to drive it sometime?” Rider teased, trying to hide the growing smirk on his face.

“I-I’m good!”

They both walked up to the front door, Goggles earlier fears about coming suddenly returning full force. It was...a party. Parties aren’t scary. Why should they be?

Rider pressed the doorbell, and after about a minute of waiting, the door flew open. Diver, along with an immediate blast of hot air greeted them. Indie electronic rock music played loudly in the background, dashing Rider’s hopes that this party would subvert any of his expectations. 

“Oh. You actually showed up.” Diver said, expression unreadable through the glint of his scuba gear.

Rider shrugged. “I’m surprised too.”

That managed to make Diver crack a smile, and he turned to let the two of them in.

Rider wasn't sure why he was expecting the volume of the music to be any more bearable inside than it was outside. He carefully scanned the crowd, not surprised to see quite a few familiar faces. The majority of the inklings and octolings appeared to be high schoolers, but Rider caught sight of a couple members of Purple Team, Green Team and even Eging and N-Pacer from the Eminence crew.

“Guess we've been missing out this whole time, huh.” Rider commented to Goggles. 

Goggles only nodded, sliding a bit closer to Rider’s side. 

“Hey, we can go whenever you want, you know that right?” Rider tried his best to reassure him, sensing the waves of anxiety coming off of him. Goggles smiled at that, and opened his mouth to respond before being interrupted by a loud voice.

“Well, well, welll, if it isn't my favorite S+!”

They both turned to see Aloha pushing his way through the crowd of people, ignoring the annoyed glances of the inklings he would occasionally bump into. He looked considerably fucked up.

“I didn't think you’d actually come~!”

“Yeah, yeah. Diver already made that joke.”

Aloha laughed, the kind of laugh drunk people do that goes on for just a tad too long. 

“Can I get a drink for you two lovely ladies?”

“Designated driver.”

“Boooo!” Aloha shook Rider’s arm. “You’re such a mama’s boy! C’moooon, just one. The whole reason I invited you was so I could see you loosen up a little!”

“Cut it out already.” Rider growled, shaking Aloha off his arm. He glanced over at Goggles, noticing how quiet he’s been this whole time.

“Wellllll, I'll be in the kitchen, if you need me.” Aloha offered with a wink, before cutting another path back out through the crowd of inklings.

Rider scanned the room again, looking for any kind of place to sit and camp himself, before the back of a neon yellow head caught his attention. While that color wasn’t limited solely to members on his team or anything, Octoglasses and N-Pacer’s nearby presence narrowed down the list of suspects.

He tapped Goggles shoulder. “Let’s go over there.”

“Okay!” Goggles replied. He started following him but was stopped in his tracks by a hand grabbing his shoulder. He turned to find the glint of Aviator’s glasses greeting him.

“Yoooo, was seriously not expecting to see you here. Heeeey! Skull!” Aviator waved over at Skull (who was currently parked over at the snack table) to come over, but he seemed preoccupied with packing away an entire artistry cracker plate. Half-Rim and Straps were there too, waving at Goggles.

“Tch, that guy. C’mon.” Aviator pulled at Goggles’ shoulder, guiding him over to the table.

“O-Oh, uh…” Goggles tried to protest, but he was dragged away from Rider before he could say anything. 

Meanwhile, Octoglasses, Blazer and N-Pacer were all sitting around the couch, each of them sipping out of their cheap novelty Wahoo World slushie cups.

“Oh my gosh, Riiiddeeyyy~” Blazer waved excitedly, elated to see her team leader here. “I'm so happy you caaaame~”

“Hey Rider.” Octoglasses waved. N-Pacer just nodded, Rider assumed she probably didn’t remember him very well.

“Hey.” he mumbled sitting himself down. He ventured over because he recognized his teammate, but got the feeling he accidentally wandered into a girls club meeting. He turned to check on Goggles, but found he had disappeared. He probably got hungry and wandered off.

“Are uh, Stealth and Bamboo present tonight?”

“Are you kiiiidddiiinnngg, Stealth would have like, 10 panic attacks if I dragged him here. I try to get Bamboo to come sometimes but she's too busy carving her stupid dolls or whatever.” Her speech was incredibly slurred, Rider nervously eyed the amber liquid sloshing around in her cup.

Octoglasses laughed, it appeared she was able to hold her liquor better than her friend. “At least your teammates get a choice. I'm kinda sick of these house parties dude. Aloha uses it as an excuse to get fucked up like, every single time. At least he doesn't barf on the floor anymore.”

N-Pacer continued sipping her cup in silence, either a quiet drunk, or a good listener.

Rider listened to the two girls gossip for a long while, a little taken back by how raunchy Blazer could get unsupervised. The girls kept trying to rope him in the conversation by asking him embarrassing questions, but his sobriety was too strong of a force for either of them.

“Is Goggles okay by himself?” Rider was surprised when N-Pacer suddenly spoke to him. They were the first words she had spoken since he got there. “I was expecting to see him with you.” 

“Oh...uh...I probably should have kept a better eye on him. But, it’s fine right? Goggles knows like everyone here.” He excused, nervously scratching the back of his head. He wasn’t Goggles guardian or anything, but he did seem pretty uncomfortable earlier. 

N-Pacer hummed mysteriously again, finished her drink, and then elegantly stood up.

“Gonna get more soda?” Octoglasses questioned.

“Kraken.” she simply stated, before striding off to the kitchen.

“Is she like, okay?” Rider whispered, wondering if he did something wrong.

“She's alwaaaays like that, hahaha! But she's like, soooooo funny. For real. She's probably shy around boys!” Blazer responded.

With the disappearance of N-Pacer, the group dynamic immediately shifted, leaving Rider with nothing else to do but stare at his phone. He nervously eyed the way Octoglasses’ hand was sliding up Blazer’s thigh. 

Rider read the mood, and suddenly stood up. Blazer started tugging on his jacket. “Riiiddeerr where you gooooiinnnggg?”

“Bathroom.” he lied. He was actually getting worried about Goggles. N-Pacer successfully planted the seed of doubt in him.

“Don't fall in.” Octoglasses joked, making Blazer crack up so hard she was in danger of falling over. 

Rider walked away, trying his best to ignore his teammate start loudly telling an embarrassing story about Yellow-Green Team. He surveyed the living room, searching for a pair of goggles, or anyone with blue hair, but there was just too many people. He quickly glanced over at the snack table, hoping he’d find Goggles and Skull lurking in that general area, but no such luck.

As Rider wandered around, he had to admit Pink Team had a pretty nice house, all things considered. Maybe he was biased, being trapped in a miserable studio apartment, he was a little jealous of the extra living space roommates could afford them. 

He decided he would search in the kitchen next. From where he was standing it looked relatively quieter than anywhere else in the house. He pushed through the crowd to the doorway, but instinctively stepped back a little when he saw who was waiting for him. Aloha was slightly splayed over the kitchen island, sitting down and talking to Diver.

 _‘Maybe I can avoid him if I just…’_ Rider put his head down and stealthily sidled around the edge of the kitchen, hugging the counters and the sink as best he could. 

“Riiiiideeerrr! Are you enjoying yourself?” Busted.

He guessed everyone would have to deal with drunk Aloha once in their lives.

“C’mere, c’meree!” Aloha waved him over frantically. Diver gave him a look of pity.

“Drunk yet?” Aloha asked, a silly grin on his face.

“I told you already...”

Rider didn’t even bother finishing his sentence, as he watched Aloha get up mid sentence and slink off somewhere. He looked at Diver, who suddenly seemed very interested in the label of his beer can.

“Octoglasses tells me he gets like this every weekend.”

“Yeahh…” Diver mumbled, taking a sip of his beer. He nervously smiled. “Can't say I'm one to talk though.” 

Out of nowhere, an expensive shot glass was slammed in front of him, the contents inside spilling out a little onto the table.

“I brought you a gift~” Aloha grinned widely at Rider.

“I already told you I drove here.”

“Hm? Where's your car?”

“I ride a bike…”

“Woooaahh, you rode a bike? All the way here? Like in the dark? Aren’t you tired?”

“A motorbike, idiot.”

Aloha was apparently tickled by this, snickering uncontrollably. He hopped back up onto his stool, it appeared he had a second shot glass with him in his other hand.

“Only got the guts to call me an idiot to my face when I'm drunk, huuuuh?”

“I'll start insulting you when you’re sober if that's what you really want.”

“Get a room you two…” Diver mumbled, slamming the rest of his drink and crushing the can in his hand. 

“What?”

“Nothing. I'm gonna go smoke outside.” Diver walked away, slipping his vape battery out of his pocket.

Rider tried to shoot Diver the “please, don't leave me alone with this guy” look, but he didn't seem to care.

“That guy, for real...so moody…” Aloha proceeded to knock back the additional shot glass he brought with him.

“Haven't you had enough…?”

“No. Fuck no. This your first house party or something?” Aloha starts laughing again, but is subsequently cut off by a sudden coughing fit.

Rider can do nothing but give him an exasperated look, and lifts his own glass to sniff it. Jack Daniels. Straight. At least Aloha didn’t try to hide the fact he was trying to literally poison him.

Rider jumped as he felt a sweaty hand land on his lower back, blindly search upwards until it decided to settle on the nape of Rider’s neck.

“I'm so glad you came man...for real….”

Rider wasn't sure how to respond, so he didn’t.

“At least drink the shot I brought you...we got beer in the fridge too, if you’re really that much of a lightweight.”

“I already told you, I drove me and Goggles here--”

“Someone else can drive him home, and then you can stay the night, it's cool.”

“Aloha.” Rider tried to say as sternly as possible.

“Hmph.” Aloha finally gave up, swiping Rider’s shot glass and downing it himself. “I invited you here and you're being so rude….”

Rider sighed, this interaction was going as well as he thought it was going to. He thought he'd be able to handle a couple of drunk high schoolers, but his tolerance for the smell of alcohol was lower than he recalled.

He lifted his head when he heard Aloha mumbling to himself, but returned his chin to his hand when he realized he was just whining about his refusal to drink. Rider remembered his original goal, quickly glancing around to see if he could find Goggles, or at least another member of the S4. Rider shook Aloha’s shoulder a little bit, trying to let him know he was gonna go explore a bit more.

“Hey, do you happen to know where Goggles we--”

Before he could do anything, Aloha’s lips were on his.

It was a deep kiss too. The taste of sharpie marker made him want to gag.

He felt roaming hands on his neck, trying to pull him closer. Eventually Rider snapped to his senses, and grabbed Aloha from his shoulders, pulling him off probably a bit too forcefully.

The two inklings stared at each other, at least Rider was staring at Aloha. Aloha’s eyes were lidded and had a glazed over expression to them, seemingly unbothered by what just happened. He had a blank expression on his face, pink from the alcohol.

“Okay. Um. Hm.” Rider wasn’t sure what to say. 

“Thank you, very much, for inviting me to your party.” Rider cautiously let go of Aloha, unsure if he was fully capable of supporting his own weight. He slunk against the side of the counter, but that didn’t stop him from reaching out for Rider’s jacket.

“Whaaat? Where are you going? C’mooon.”

Rider ignored him, the shock slowly wearing off. The farther he got away from the kitchen, the more he realized how pissed off he was. It took a lot in him to not turn around and deck Aloha in the face.

He stomped out into the living room, still hearing Aloha pathetically call out after him. Goddamnit, where the hell was Goggles? He shouldn’t have left him in the first place, he was expecting to stay by his side all night. What if he was lost? Or was drinking too much? Or…?

He was so worked up, he wasn’t looking where he was going at all and accidentally crashed into Eging. “Shit…! Sorry…”

“Woah, hey man, it’s good. Lucky I didn’t spill my drink.” He looked Rider up and down. “You alright? You kinda look like shit.” Eging bluntly stated.

“What…?” Rider snarled. He wasn’t in the mood.

“Just saying.”

“Fucking...whatever. Hey, do you know where Goggles is?”

“Goggles? I think Aviator and Skull took him home already.”

“What? Already? Without telling me? Wh-What happened? Is he okay?”

“Dude! Chill! Maybe he got overwhelmed or something. Why weren’t you with him?”

The way Eging worded that sent a hot flash anger throughout his body. Rider took a deep breath through his nose, knowing he wasn’t exactly in full control of his emotions at the moment.

Rider ran his hand over the top of his hair. “I dunno we just, got distracted I guess…”

“Distracted. Mmhm.” Eging took another drink from his cup, not taking his eyes off Rider.

“What?”

“...Rider, you and I both know you’re not that stupid.”

Rider feels a pit drop in his stomach, hoping Eging wasn’t implying what he thought he was.

“Fffffuck...goddamnit.” He grumbled, turning away. “We were just talking, okay?”

“Yeah, my friendly chats also end with my homie’s tongue halfway down my throat. All the time, man. It’s chill.”

“Eging, can you _please_ shut the fuck up before I knock one of your teeth out.”

“Heeeey.” Eging nervously laughed, placing his free hand on Rider’s shoulder. “You’re clearly wound up right now. It’s gonna be alright, just talk to him, man. You’ve been friends for a long time now, right? Communication’s everything.”

Rider tried his best to calm down. As pissed off as he was, Eging was right.

“Yeah...”

Eging gave him a sympathetic smile, squeezing his shoulder before walking away. Rider stayed there for a moment, trying his best to gather his thoughts. He came to the conclusion loud electro trance music probably wasn’t helping his anxiety, so he goes searching for a bathroom. He thinks he’s had enough of this party.

He ventured down anempty hallway, finally locating the bathroom. It was unlocked, thankfully, but he cracked it open slowly anyways. He didn’t want to walk in on anything he didn’t particularly need to see.

Eging was right. He did look like shit. He shut his eyes, leaning on the sink, trying to calm himself down. He ran through breathing exercises Bamboo once shared with him. Goggles is safe. Aloha’s an asshole. You didn’t do anything wrong. Deep breaths.

He eventually calmed down, but anxiety and guilt still swam through his veins. He took his phone out, a little annoyed it was already 10PM. He texted Goggles asking if everything was alright, then left the bathroom after washing his hands.

“Hey.”

Rider looked up, the pit in his stomach got even bigger. Aloha was standing in the dark hallway, hands in his pockets. He almost looked creepy, standing there by himself.

Rider stared at him silently. He doubted Aloha was sober enough to even remember what he did, so he tried to silently slip past him.

“Rideeerrr…” Aloha slurred as he reached out and grabbed Rider’s arm. His grip strong for someone as wasted as he was. 

Rider knew he should have slapped his hand away and kept walking, but for some reason he stayed. Aloha shifted around so he was facing him. After lingering like that for a moment, he slid his hands up to Rider’s head, and attempting to pull him in for another kiss. 

Rider was less than thrilled by this turn of events. “Stop! Jesus christ. What the hell is wrong with you...” he snarled, grabbing Aloha’s wrists. He was probably holding them too tightly, but he was too frustrated to care.

“Rider...I like you…” Aloha mumbled, kind of dreamily.

That made Rider pause. It felt like all of the anger he had been slowly building up that night drained out of his body. Sure, Aloha was on a different planet right now, but out of everything he was expecting to come out of Aloha’s mouth tonight, it wasn’t...that. 

Aloha interpreted Rider’s hesitation as another chance. “Rider…” he leaned in again, going for another kiss.

“Aloha. Now isn’t the time.” Rider tried to sternly say, letting go of his wrists so he could push Aloha back up against the wall. He couldn’t find the energy to get mad anymore.

“Why not...your boyfriend left, right…?”

“...He’s not my boyfriend.”

“Rider…” Aloha whispered, rubbing his hands over Rider’s shirt, then over to his jacket, slowly feeling the folds and creases. He placed his face on Rider’s chest, lifting his visor almost to the point of it slipping off. “I like you. I’m right here. You like me back, right?”

“You’re way too drunk.”

“Maybe you’re not drunk enough.”

“I need to get going, Aloha.”

“Stay.” He said in a tiny voice. 

Rider stood there, unsure what to do. This entire situation was too weird for him. 

Aloha once again, tried to steal another kiss, and Rider decided it was time for him to go. He pulled both of Aloha’s arms down and kept them to his sides. 

“Thank you again for inviting me.” And with that, he turned away and took off, Aloha gazing at him from the empty hallway.

Blazer and Octoglasses both called out to him as they saw him leaving, but he ignored them.

When he reached his bike, he stood in front of it for a moment. The second helmet hanging on its hook looked strangle lonely.

Rider slipped his gloves on, kicked on his bike, and drove into the night, alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was so nervous about writing this chapter!! But I hope it was okay.
> 
> Just a heads up, the fic gets considerably more #Real after this point, so fluffy gorai will sadly be sparse (if you're specifically here for that.) Don't worry though, Rider and Goggles' relationship is still an important part of this fic.
> 
> Thanks for reading.


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